Cruzeiro director exposes ‘turnaround’ in Rafael Cabral’s destiny < No Attack

Officially appointed as Cruzeiro’s interim football director after Pedro Martins left for Vasco, Paulo André gave details of how Rafael Cabral’s departure was handled internally by the SAF board. The director stated that there was a change in the direction of the negotiations and the goalkeeper ended up agreeing with another club.

Without mentioning the name of the interested team, Paulo André stated that the 33-year-old archer’s initial destination would not be Grêmio. However, the On Attack found that Cabral was very close to signing with Santos. The negotiation only did not progress because the São Paulo team decided to give João Paulo another vote of confidence in the goal.

Before, Paulo André explained that the decision to leave Cruzeiro came from the former celestial captain himself. He communicated his desire shortly after failing in the 3-3 draw with Alianza, from Colombia, at Mineirão, in the second round of Group B of the Copa Sudamericana.

“In the case of Rafael Cabral, specifically, it was his request to leave the club at that moment. On the Friday after Alianza, we played on Thursday night (for the Sul-Americana), he called me and asked to be traded. I asked him to have a little patience so we could talk on Saturday”, he began.

Even after expressing his intention to leave Cruzeiro, Rafael went to Toca da Raposa 2, the following day, and spoke with Fernando Seabra. At the informal meeting, it was decided that the goalkeeper would be listed for his debut in the Brazilian Championship. The athlete, however, changed his mind and was not part of the concentration.

“On Saturday morning, he was here (at Toca da Raposa 2) before training and spoke with (Fernando) Seabra and it was decided between them that he would go to the game and play. That afternoon, they went home and would return at night for concentration. And maybe, it’s probably an opinion, at home he was convinced by his family to, once again, call me and ask me to go out”, he added.

Negotiation to leave Cruzeiro

“On that second call I said: ‘You don’t have the brains to be in tomorrow’s game and so you’re out of the game. We will start to deal with it in the next few days until the window for your departure closes’. We started negotiating with one club and ended up negotiating with another club, which was Grêmio”.

– Pedro Martins, interim football director at Cruzeiro

Pressure on Rafael Cabral

Cabral left Cruzeiro through the ‘back door’. The goalkeeper was experiencing a technical crisis after failing to play important games during the season and was heavily criticized by fans. The situation became unsustainable in the draw against Alianza.

Rafael failed when trying to handle the ball kicked by striker Emerson Batalla in Alianza’s second goal. Dejected, he raised his arms signaling an apology to the Cruzeiro fans at the stadium. However, he did not avoid the harsh protest.

The boos started before the match, when the archer’s name was announced on the screen. The protests intensified after the final whistle.

In the mixed zone of Mineirão, shirt 1 showed dejection with the demonstrations. He admitted his mistake and blamed himself for the result with a ‘taste of defeat’. Rafael even stated that he would leave Cruzeiro if the board understood that he would be compromising the team’s performance.

After that, the goalkeeper was no longer involved in the Brasileirão matches. For this reason, he was left with ‘no mood’ for continuity in Burrow 2.

With a contract with Cruzeiro until December 2025, the goalkeeper was loaned to Grêmio until the end of this year’s Brasileirão. Young Gabriel Grando, 24 years old, was loaned to Raposa.