Pedrinho ‘motivates’ Cruzeiro squad before trip to Colombia < In Attack

Pedro Lourenço’s presence can now be seen behind the scenes at Cruzeiro. The club’s new owner, the 68-year-old businessman was with the celestial squad this Monday morning (6/5), before traveling to Valledupar, Colombia. Watch the interaction in the video below.

The Colombian city will host the game between Alianza and Cruzeiro, in the fourth round of Group B of the Copa Sudamericana. The teams face each other this Tuesday, starting at 9:30 pm, at the Armando Maestre Pajaveau Stadium.

Pedrinho bought SAF from Ronaldo

Pedro Lourenço bought 90% of the shares of Sociedade Anônima de Futebol do Cruzeiro – the remaining percentage belongs to the civil association, which managed the club’s football between January 1921 and December 2021.

The former owner of SAF is former center forward Ronaldo Nazário, a personal friend of Pedrinho. The decision to sell its part of the amount was revealed last Monday, at a press conference at Toca da Raposa 2, in Belo Horizonte.

In the video released on Cruzeiro’s social networks, it is possible to see Pedrinho supporting some players before the trip. The businessman also appears alongside technical assistant Vinicius Rovaris and Cruzeiro’s three new directors: Alexandre Mattos, Paulo Pelaipe and Edu Dracena.

Pedrinho gave Mattos the most prestigious role in the department. Initially, the experienced manager was hired to be Raposa’s football director. However, he will have an even more important role: he will be a kind of football CEO.

It will be up to Mattos to manage the contractual situations of Cruzeiro’s current squad of players, map the market and approve possible signings to be made. Furthermore, the director will have the autonomy to change the technical command.

Pedro Lourenço’s trusted man, Mattos will occupy a role similar to that performed by Paulo André during Ronaldo Nazário’s management at the head of SAF Celeste. The former defender was the club’s strategy director. He was the one who made the final decisions in the football department.

Mattos will also have the assistance of Pedro Júnior on the board. The eldest son who owns Cruzeiro will closely observe the football CEO’s movements.

Dracena and Pelaipe will work under the tutelage of Mattos

With Mattos’ recommendation, Pedrinho hired Paulo Pelaipe to join the portfolio at Cruzeiro. The 73-year-old professional was at Botafogo-SP when he accepted the invitation to be executive director of football.

Pelaipe’s career is closely linked to Grêmio, a club for which he worked on four occasions and was champion of the Copa do Brasil (2001) and Série B of the Brazilian Championship (2005). He also stood out at Flamengo in 2019 and was part of the state, Brazilian and Copa Libertadores champion group.

Roughly speaking, Pelaipe will replace Pedro Martins. Therefore, according to the new SAF structure, the decisions made by him in football will be supervised by Alexandre Mattos. The most recent news in Cruzeiro’s football department was the arrival of Edu Dracena to join the portfolio. The former defender was announced as technical director this Saturday (4/5).

Dracena, who had a successful spell at Raposa as a player, returns to the club to replace Paulo Autuori. He will be responsible for connecting the SAF board with the technical committee and athletes in the youth, professional and women’s categories.

Edu retired from playing in 2019, when he played for Palmeiras. Soon after, he took on management roles linked to the São Paulo club until 2021. Still in the same year, he worked at Santos as football director. He resigned from his position in the second half of 2022. Since then, he has been unemployed.