Marcelo's Fluminense Contract Terminated after Clash with Coach

FILE PHOTO: Copa Libertadores - Quarter finals - Second Leg - Atletico Mineiro v Fluminense - Arena MRV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - September 25, 2024 Fluminense's Marcelo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cris Mattos/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Copa Libertadores - Quarter finals - Second Leg - Atletico Mineiro v Fluminense - Arena MRV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - September 25, 2024 Fluminense's Marcelo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cris Mattos/File Photo
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Marcelo's Fluminense Contract Terminated after Clash with Coach

FILE PHOTO: Copa Libertadores - Quarter finals - Second Leg - Atletico Mineiro v Fluminense - Arena MRV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - September 25, 2024 Fluminense's Marcelo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cris Mattos/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Copa Libertadores - Quarter finals - Second Leg - Atletico Mineiro v Fluminense - Arena MRV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - September 25, 2024 Fluminense's Marcelo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cris Mattos/File Photo

Former Real Madrid great Marcelo had his contract at boyhood club Fluminense terminated two months early on Saturday, one day after the defender's touchline spat with coach Mano Menezes.
The Brazilian club said in a statement that the decision was by mutual agreement, The Associated Press reported.
“The institutional and emotional bonds between Fluminense and Marcelo remain untouched,” Fluminense said.
Marcelo did not comment.
Last year, Marcelo won the Rio de Janeiro state championship and the Copa Libertadores titles with Fluminense, his first professional club before he joined Real Madrid at the end of 2006 at age 18. He won five Champions Leagues and six La Ligas at Madrid.
Menezes was going to use the 36-year-old Marcelo as a substitute in the final minutes of Fluminense's clash against Gremio in a Brazilian league match. The defender appeared to dispute the coach's instructions, who decided to field striker John Kennedy instead.
Fluminense led 2-1 at the time, but Gremio scored from the spot shortly before the final whistle to equalize at the Maracana Stadium.
“I was going to bring Marcelo in at that time, but I heard one thing that I did not like and I changed my mind,” Menezes said at a press conference. “He wasn't going in to solve any problem for us, he was stepping in to let us keep what we had (on the scoreboard). It was just two, three minutes to the end.”



Salah Double Sends Liverpool 8 Points Clear in Premier League as United Draws First Game with Amorim

 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah leaves the pitch after the English Premier League soccer match between Southampton and Liverpool in Southampton, England, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah leaves the pitch after the English Premier League soccer match between Southampton and Liverpool in Southampton, England, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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Salah Double Sends Liverpool 8 Points Clear in Premier League as United Draws First Game with Amorim

 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah leaves the pitch after the English Premier League soccer match between Southampton and Liverpool in Southampton, England, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah leaves the pitch after the English Premier League soccer match between Southampton and Liverpool in Southampton, England, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

It has been more than 30 years since a team held as big a lead as Liverpool after 12 rounds of the Premier League.

Not that Arne Slot is getting too excited about an eight-point advantage before even hitting December.

“It’s nice to have this position,” the Liverpool manager said Sunday after Mohamed Salah inspired a 3-2 come-from-behind win at Southampton, “but we are definitely not getting carried away.”

Only Manchester United's class of 1993-94 — under Alex Ferguson — has had a larger lead than Slot's Liverpool at this stage of a Premier League campaign. The title stayed at Old Trafford that season.

It's those kind of glory days that Ruben Amorim is trying to recreate after taking charge of United and the Portuguese coach could hardly have got off to a better start.

Only 81 seconds had elapsed before United marked Amorim's first game at the helm with a goal from Marcus Rashford at Ipswich.

United couldn't hold out and a 1-1 draw against a team destined to be battling against relegation underlined the scale of Amorim's task to turn around the fortunes of a fallen giant in English soccer.