Manchester United legend Casemiro has a lot of pressure on his shoulders right now. He has been backed to handle it.
Five-times Champions League winner Casemiro does not intend on slowing down any time soon. He is playing a key role for Manchester United right now, and has his greatest challenge with Brazil at the end of the season.
Casemiro is hoping to lead Brazil to World Cup glory, for their first title since 2002, and the first of his career. After starring unsuccessfully in 2018 and 2022, Casemiro is in his last chance for the Selecao.
After being dropped from the Brazil squad, his former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti recalled him, and he has named him captain.
It is a responsibility that Casemiro has embraced, he has now received important backing.
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Dunga happy with Casemiro as captain
As Casemiro will know from his time at Manchester United, impressing club legends who have won it all, is not an easy task.
The likes of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane can be among the harshest critics of the current players, sometimes deserved, other times less so.
In his homeland, there are numerous successful Brazilian icons of the past who have important voices, and one of them is 1994 World Cup winning captain Dunga.
Speaking this week to national outlet Globo, Dunga discussed the Brazil captaincy, focusing around a couple of players.
Commenting on star attacker Vinicius Jr, he explained that he felt he was ill-suited to the armband.
“In my opinion, Vini is a technical leader, a footballing leader, not a locker room leader. He’s someone who creates plays, who takes the initiative. And Brazil still needs a leader within the group.”
Dunga is confident that Casemiro has the innate attributes to step up into the role he once excelled in, when the Manchester United player was just two-years-old.
He can be that leader, yes. It’s been a while since we’ve had a figure like that, and a leader isn’t made — you either are, or you aren’t. Placing that responsibility on Vinicius isn’t good for him.”
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Casemiro will be thankful for the endorsement
Casemiro has seen it all, and he has bounced back from severe criticism during his time at Manchester United.
But he will be happy to hear Dunga endorse him for the captaincy, not because he needs it, but because of his huge respect for his predecessor.
Speaking to Manchester United last year, Casemiro cited Dunga as one of his idols.
He explained: “Defensive midfielders in particular, as Brazil has always had a production line of such players, specialists in their position.
“Mauro Silva, Dunga, Donato as well who played for [Deportivo] La Coruna. Players from before that were specialists in the no.6 position.”
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