In the Brazilian Série B a football story unfolded that no coach would ever put in a manual.
During the match, the Juventude defender Marcos Paulo suddenly realised that he could no longer carry on playing as before. And it was so impossible that he had to urgently leave the pitch and run to the dressing room.
The coaching staff decided that was it — the player had to be substituted. The substitute was already ready to come on, the fourth official was preparing to process the substitution, and the team mentally said goodbye to Marcos Paulo at least until the end of the half.
But then he appeared from the tunnel area.
Fresh. Composed. Ready to carry on.
The substitution is cancelled.
You'd think that would already be a story worthy of a place in the football chronicles. But Marcos Paulo decided that simply returning wasn't enough.
In the second half he joined an attack and scored his team's second goal. Juventude won 2:0, and the footballer got perhaps the most unusual storyline for his first goal of the current championship.
It makes for the perfect blueprint for preparing a goalscoring attack:
left the pitch → took care of an important matter → came back → scored.
Coaches can now rewatch the match and wonder whether to add a new item to the tactical plan:
"If the game isn't going well — maybe someone just needs to step out." 😄
