Ballon d’Or elected by FIFA in 1999 and five-time champion with the Brazilian national team in 2002, Rivaldo appeared nationally and internationally wearing the Corinthians shirt in 1993 after standing out at Santa Cruz and Mogi Mirim. Betfair interviewed Rivaldo to talk about a somewhat special date for the midfielder: July 11, 1993.
Exactly 30 years ago, the star made his debut with the Alvinegra shirt in the match against Vasco, in the Rio-São Paulo Tournament. Ambassador of the bookmaker, the star detailed his passage through Parque São Jorge, which took him to the Brazilian National Team for the first time.
In June 1993, the Corinthians board was impressed with the young player from Mogi-Mirim, who had just arrived from Santa Cruz, and decided to bet on Rivaldo. At the club in the interior of São Paulo, Rivaldo formed the well-known “Carrossel Caipira”, taking the small club from the interior to the final squares of Paulistão.
Days after the confirmation of the loan contract between Mogi Mirim and Corinthians, on July 11 of that year, the Betfair Ambassador, aged just 21, made his debut at Pacaembu against Vasco. Rivaldo told the bookmaker how his debut was starting in the starting 11 in his first match.
“It was a very big emotion because leaving a smaller club in the interior and being signed by Corinthians was a huge weight, and debuting with the Corinthians shirt, with the club’s fans supporting the whole time, was a huge satisfaction. So it was a very big emotion and I am grateful to Corinthians for having seen me in the interior of São Paulo and for hiring me, because after that, things started to move in my life”, highlighted Rivaldo.
In the second half of that year, Rivaldo ended up being the main highlight of the team, scoring eleven goals in six months, earning him a call up for the Brazilian national team that year. “I didn’t have this dream of making it to the Brazilian national team, but things were going well. Everyone knows that playing for Corinthians is a lot of pressure and things started to get better and within Corinthians, I was called up for the national team in 1993. I was in a game against Germany, which I didn’t play, and against Mexico, where debuted and scored a goal for our national team. But I say that at first it was hard to imagine, but working I saw things happening naturally”, said the star to Betfair.
The former Corinthians player commented that 1993 was an important year for the athlete’s career, when he and the Corinthians squad filled with stars such as Ronaldo Giovanelli, Paulo Cesar and Viola, guaranteed qualification for the finals of the Brasileirão, suffering only one final defeat in 20 matches, costing the Brazilian title chances that year.
“I was very happy because I was at Corinthians and, in less than six months, I could be the Brazilian champion. At that time, Palmeiras was the champion, but we came close to playing against Palmeiras in the final, in a game against Vitória in the semifinals, which had a strong team and cost us our way to the final. It was a dream to be living this positive moment, scoring goals, winning victories, things were going so well for me, that Corinthians wanted to hire me again, renewing it for another six months in 1994. So I was happy, but unfortunately we couldn’t reach this final of the Brazilian Championship”, said Rivaldo, to Betfair.
Acting for Corinthians, there were 62 games, 22 goals and a title with Timão’s shirt (Copa Bandeirantes 1994) throughout his passage between July 1993 and August 1994. There were 58 matches as an absolute starter, winning 39 wins, 18 draws and only 5 defeats. The teams that conceded the most goals from Rivaldo in that period were Botafogo (4), Bahia (3) and Caldense and Santos (2).
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