At 91 years old, Flamengo idol becomes a hit on social media

Evaristo de Macedo became a hit on the internet. The stories starring the idol of Flamengo and Bahia, from the perspective of former players and coaches with whom he worked, bring a good laugh from those who listen and watch.

The imitation of his fine tone of voice and the stories behind-the-scenes footage — which has a mix of banter and fun — went viral on social media. At 91, Seu Evaristo "breaks the bubble" and sees his career in football reaching a generation that hasn't seen him on the field or even on the edge of the pitch.

"We joke with him a lot. At Sometimes, we sit down, put it on YouTube and he watches the podcast videos, alongside his grandchildren. He jokes: 'they only tell the jokes, they don't tell the jokes I made'. He jokes: 'I was really talking about Barcelona and. Real Madrid. They didn't know, man. He takes it lightly and, from time to time, he tells a lot of stories."

Luiz Macedo, Evaristo's son

Evaristo, as expected, was remembered and invited by the directors of Flamengo and Bahia to be at Maracanã, but he will follow this Thursday's duel (12) from home. He is still recovering from surgery following a fractured femur, the result of a fall at home in July.

Evaristo de Macedo He started at Madureira and had two spells as a Flamengo player, between 1953 and 1957, and between 1965 and 1967. During this hiatus, he was in Spain, where he defended both sides of the rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid, and is still remembered today by Catalans and people from Madrid.

On the field, with Rubro-Negro, he was three-time Rio champion in 1953, 1954 and 1955 and, later, won another State Championship in 1965. He also won the Rio-São Paulo State Champions Cup, in 1955. He was also Fla's coach on three occasions, between the mid-90s and 2000.

He has a reserved space in the Flamengo Museum, opened last year , at the club headquarters, in Gávea. "Evaristo, living legend of Mengão and a hero of the Nation", says a post on the museum's social media page.

Evaristo graduated in physical education from the Federal University of Guanabara, and had a long career as a coach. At Bahia, he was the Brazilian champion coach in 1988, and not for nothing gives his name to the club's training center.

At Tricolor, he won other titles, such as the State titles of 1970, 1971, 1973, 1988, 1998 and 2001, the 2001 Northeast Championship. In 2013, he won the title of Bahian citizen. Last year, when he turned 90, he was honored on Bahia's uniform with a patch saying "Evaristo 90" and his face.

Flamengo and Bahia are two clubs that are close to his heart, it's love and passion. He is very grateful to both of them. To Flamengo for what he achieved as a player, and for his time as a coach, and to Bahia for his titles as a coach. They are a great source of pride.

Evaristo also played and coached the Brazilian national team. He is, to this day, the only one to score a "Manita" — score five goals in the same match — with the Canarian shirt. This happened in 1957, in a 9-0 defeat of Colombia, in the South American Championship.

In recent years, The number of podcasts with themes related to sport has grown exponentially, and with conversations with different coaches, players, managers and former players. In the midst of this scenario, Evaristo de Macedo emerged.

Funny stories involving the former player and former coach were told, and the videos went viral. There are even channels that gathered excerpts from the interviews for a compilation, including parts 1,2,3, and so on.

One of these players was left-back Leandro, who played for clubs like Vitória, Cruzeiro and Palmeiras. In one of the stories, he reproduced a dialogue he had with Evaristo: "He turned around and asked: 'Where are you from, Leandrinho?' I'm from Rio, professor. 'Rio where?' I said: 'I'm from Nova Iguaçu, Austin'. 'Oh, it's not Rio, huh'.

"The other day I was here at the office and there was assistance. There were two guys talking and one of them said he lived in Rio, and the other asked where. He replied: 'Nova Iguaçu' and then heard: ' Oh, Nova Iguaçu is not Rio, huh', imitating the way of speaking. And they both burst out laughing. And they had no idea that I was there, Evaristo's son. The videos went viral, and people reproduced them. , it's funny."

Luiz Macedo