Delfí Geli, now president of Girona, knows well what happens when samba and football are mixed. He suffered it in August 1996 precisely at the Lluís Companys. Barcelona, ??where Ronaldo made his debut, and Atlético, where Geli played, were playing for the Super Cup. In the 75th minute, both met in the area and the Fenómeno escaped with an elastic before giving in to De la Peña, who scored 4-2. Ronaldo would make the fifth.
Neither Raphinha (less than four months away) nor Sávio had been born. But both carry that rhythm in their game, although their arrival at the elite has been completely opposite.
The Barça and Girona wingers are Brazilian, left-footed and measure 1.76 meters. The similarities end there, because the Blaugrana prefers to play with a changed leg on the right wing while Míchel usually uses Sávio on the left.
When they receive the ball tomorrow in the Catalan derby, the rivals will have to be attentive but with different concerns. Raphinha’s specialty is hitting the ball and he immediately looks at the goal, either with the shot or with a tense cross. Against Rayo and Atlético, Barça’s number 11 lashes were left without a goal after encountering the post. On the other hand, Sávio stands out for his dribbling skills, both on the run and in the dry. His ability to face and overwhelm is what has impressed the most at this start of the League, in which he has been one of the sensations of the revelation team. 33 successful dribbles place him third in that aspect, only behind Bryan Zaragoza and Nico Williams. The 13 of his Blaugrana compatriot are far away.
The elusive Sávio was unknown to the general public because last year he barely participated in the Dutch PSV’s League title. He is 19 years old, so he had promise when he joined Girona in the summer, on loan from Troyes, a City Group team. Nothing to do with Raphinha, who will turn 27 on Thursday. Barcelona signed him in the summer of 2022 for 58 million plus 7 million in variables. Crack price, a category that he has not yet acquired despite the 10 goals and 12 assists last season.
This year he has two goals in 583 minutes because he has only recently established himself in the eleven – after the suspension for the red in Getafe and a muscle injury – due to the lot of competition in Barcelona while his colleague, who is indisputable (1,307 minutes), has already celebrated five, one of them in the Cup.
At a very young age, Sávio stood out, who was an under-15 international with Brazil and last May he played in the youth World Cup. On the other hand, Raphinha was never called up in the lower categories but since 2021 he has been a regular for the canarinha (20 games), with which he played in the World Cup in Qatar.
This is explained because the Barcelona player never played in his country’s league. Son of a musician, known to Ronaldinho, he was discovered by Deco at the age of 19 at Copinha when he played for Avaí under-20. He took him to Portugal, where he started in the Vitória de Guimarães reserve team before jumping to the first team and Sporting Lisbon.
In 2020, Sávio, at 16 years old, made his debut in a historic team like At. Mineiro, where he did not last too long. Although he belongs to Troyes and the City Group, he has never played Ligue 1 or the Premier, tournaments that he does know about Raphinha (Rennes and Leeds), whose path to the elite has been convoluted, which is why he is now so vertical. On the other hand, Sávio enjoys the curves.