Marcelo’s Contract Terminated by Fluminense After Altercation with Coach

Former Real Madrid and Brazil defender Marcelo has had his contract with his boyhood club Fluminense terminated two months early following a heated altercation with coach Mano Menezes. The incident occurred during a match against Gremio on Friday, where Marcelo was set to come off the bench in the final minutes of the game.

According to Menezes, the disagreement arose when Marcelo reacted negatively to the coach’s instructions. “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 explained. “He wasn’t going in to solve any problem for us, he was stepping in to let us keep what we had [on the score sheet]. It was just two, three minutes to the end.”

The next day, Fluminense announced that Marcelo’s contract had been terminated by mutual consent. The club released a statement saying, “Fluminense FC and Marcelo Vieira announce the termination of the contract by mutual agreement between the parties.” Despite the termination, the statement emphasized that the “institutional and emotional ties between Fluminense and Marcelo continue to be maintained.”

Marcelo, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest left-backs of all time, returned to Fluminense in February 2023 after a brief stint with Greek side Olympiacos. During his time at Fluminense, he helped the team win the Rio de Janeiro state championship and the Copa Libertadores titles.