With both of Manchester City’s Brazilians prominent for the Selecao in their 2-0 victory over Italy at the Emirates Stadium last night, Brazilian coach Dunga has expressed his pleasure in their performances, but is also perplexed at Elano’s frequent omission from Mark Hughes’s starting line-up.
“His personal situation at the club is difficult and it can make life more difficult in the national squad,” Dunga told The Manchester Evening News.
“But Elano has always played very well with us. However, he also needs to be in good physical condition to play well.
“I don’t want to talk too much about him because I want to protect him.
“He is a very skilled player, he has a lot of quality and also knows how to mark a player and find his team-mates as well as score goals himself.”
There are, of course, no such concerns for Elano’s team-mate in Manchester, Robinho. Despite some difficult off-field ‘issues’ in January, the occasionally wayward front-man is one of the first names on the team-sheet for both club and country, and is City’s top scorer this season.
“Everyone’s knows Robinho’s qualities,” added Dunga. “We showed good personality and Robinho showed it as well – he fits well in the Brazil team.”
Robinho scored Brazil’s first goal in London last night, and also set up Elano for the second in what turned out to be an impressive victory over the world champions.
Goal