Felipe Anderson taking Serie A by storm with Lazio

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  • Felipe Anderson has transformed from inconsistent teen at Santos to star turn at Lazio.

    Have you ever heard of someone gaining weight because of language problems? That is what happened to Felipe Anderson last season in Rome. The Brazilian midfielder, signed by Lazio from Santos in the summer of 2013, had significant problems learning Italian, to the extent that he didn’t understand the menu when going out to eat. Therefore, he ordered the only dish he knew, spaghetti carbonara, on daily basis, and such a “diet” was extremely unwise for a footballer. Coach Edy Reja wasn’t happy to say the least, and that only added to numerous issues the youngster was having when trying to come to terms with the new league and the new culture.

    As a result, Felipe Anderson was considered a complete failure last term. The fact that he arrived with an ankle injury in the first place didn’t help. He was usually benched, limited to seven Serie A starts and didn’t complete the whole 90 minutes even once, failing to score or leave any meaningful impression. That was also the case at the beginning of this season, after Reja was replaced by Stefano Pioli. It took a slice of good fortune for him to get a real chance, when star performer Antonio Candreva was injured in December. Pioli gambled on the Brazilian in the Coppa Italia fixture against second division Varese, was rewarded with a goal and a good performance in a 3-0 win, and the turnaround was nothing short of miraculous ever since.

    Less than four months on, the consensus in Italy is that Felipe Anderson is the best player in the country. His contribution is absolutely sensational on a weekly basis, his technical skills are making football lovers adore him, his confidence is sky high, and his potential is truly frightening. If the current progress continues, the speedy magician is destined for superstardom, on his way to play alongside his good friend Neymar in the national team.

    Felipe Anderson’s talent was there for all to see when he grew up at Santos in his homeland. It is somewhat symbolic that he made his debut for the club in October 2010 when Neymar celebrated his 100th appearance, and the duo were supposed to form a great partnership. Even though the midfielder is just a year younger than the striker, Neymar took Felipe Anderson under his wing and nicknamed him his “little brother”. Things didn’t go too smoothly, though, as the young prodigy was fairly inconsistent. His form was quite disappointing for the Brazil youth national team too, particularly when they were surprisingly eliminated in the first round at South American Under-20 Championship.

    Nevertheless, clubs queued to start talking with Santos, the list of suitors including Bayern Munich, Tottenham and AC Milan – all hoping that the youngster would become the new Kaka. Lazio were the most persistent, or maybe the most patient, because third-party issues made the negotiations extremely difficult. Sporting director Igli Tare said that he was completely shocked by the whole process, before the player eventually signed for Dh31 million (€8m).

    “He is naturally, completely two-footed. Together with lightning speed and change of direction, he is virtually impossible to mark.” 

    Lazio then waited for more than a year to finally understand that the money wasn’t wasted. On the contrary – the deal now looks like an amazing steal, the bargain of the decade. Felipe Anderson has an incredible range of talents, and the most important of them is that he is naturally completely two footed. The Brazilian is equally comfortable controlling the ball or shooting with either foot, and that – together with his lightning speed and change of direction – makes him virtually impossible to mark. He is unpredictable in the extreme.

    The Felipe Anderson show started in a 3-0 win against Atalanta, when he tore the opponents apart, provided two sublime assists for captain Stefano Mauri and could have scored a hat-trick himself. A week later, Lazio visited Inter Milan at San Siro, and the Brazilian, who was positioned on the right wing on paper, netted twice when wandering left. The first was a crisp finish with his left, the second a deft touch with his right after a great solo run. A star was born. With Candreva back, Felipe Anderson was no longer restricted on the field, but allowed to roam free wherever he wanted.

    In the first game of 2015, the Brazilian wizard was so unstoppable with a goal and two brilliant assists, that Sampdoria coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, thrashed 3-0 but thrilled by what he witnessed, compared him to Cristiano Ronaldo. “I hope he will keep it up in the derby against Roma”, Pioli said. Sure enough, Felipe Anderson was up to the task, setting up a goal for Mauri with an exquisite pass with his right, then scoring himself from distance with his left.

    That’s where the momentum could have stopped. The midfielder picked up a knee injury and was forced to miss nearly a month. In the meantime, his father, Sebastiao Tore Gomes, was arrested for double homicide after a car chase went terribly wrong. He tried to chase a driver on a motorcycle, but both his car and the motorcycle crashed into a house. The other driver and the woman who slept inside the house were killed instantly. Felipe Anderson is very close to his dad, and even dedicated the goal a brace against Inter to him on his birthday. Such a tragedy could easily have had a devastating effect.

    It didn’t. The 21-year-old showed mental strength, and came back from injury as though nothing had happened. Lazio had trouble getting results when he was out, but after his return they won five games in a row. At the beginning of March, the Brazilian was sensational at Sassuolo, scoring himself, and then setting up three chances for Miroslav Klose, with the German only managing to put one of them into the net. Against Napoli in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, he set up a goal for Klose again. Next came Fiorentina, and Felipe Anderson ran wild in a 4-0 win.

    Finally, on Monday, when things started to get difficult at Torino, the best Serie A player decided the game by himself, scoring twice in the space of seven minutes. First he fooled three defenders on a mazy run to put the ball in the net with his right. Then – you guessed it – he used the other foot to put the game beyond doubt.

    Overall, Felipe Anderson has seven goals and eight assists in his last 11 games, not counting a lot of chances that were missed by his teammates after his good work. The numbers are incredible. Granted, the midfielder is still young. His decision making is not always perfect, and he tends to commit needless fouls, which has resulted in four bookings so far. But he has only started his career, and sky is the limit for him.

    In January 2013, Lazio fans were devastated when their hero Hernanes was controversially sold to Inter, and the Brazilian himself openly wept on his way out. He is all but forgotten in the Eternal City now. His heir turned out to be better. Much better.

    With Roma falling apart, Lazio have closed the gap on the city rivals to just one point, and on current form they should be considered favourites to finish second and qualify directly for the Champions League group stages. Such a feat was unthinkable in December, but with Felipe Anderson in his prime, the Biancocelesti are capable of beating anyone. Who knows, maybe Neymar will be referred to as his “brother” one day, and not vice versa.

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