Player Focus: Luís Fabiano Gatecrashes the Fantastic Four to Provide Reminder of his Quality

Bad news for fans of title races going right to the wire: it now seems unlikely that São Paulo will manage to overthrow the heavyweights of Cruzeiro before the Campeonato Brasileirão season ends. Going into the midweek round, the Tricolor trail by four points having played a game more than their rivals. Stranger things have happened, but rarely to a side so battle-hardened as this Cruzeiro outfit.

And yet, as thoughts turn to end-of-year lists and prizes, there is an argument to be made that São Paulo are some kind of people’s champions. Muricy Ramalho’s charges have played some terrific football this year, enchanting both their own fans and Brazil’s press. Just consider the headline of sports daily Lance! after their win over Cruzeiro in September: “They deserve the win, the title, the party!”

Much of their success this term was down to the ‘Quartero Fantástico’ – the Fantastic Four. The addition of Kaká to a forward line that already contained the talents of Alexandre Pato, Alan Kardec and Paulo Henrique Ganso always looked likely to pay off and so it proved, São Paulo embarking on a run of 7 victories in 8 games to climb above Internacional, Corinthians and Fluminense. 

Yet after the Cruzeiro win came a frustrating stutter: just one point salvaged from four games. The chasing pack closed in; one of the runners in the two-horse race looked to have limped out of contention.

One man, though, had other ideas. Luís Fabiano has stepped up to the plate in grand style in recent weeks, netting four times in five starts to put São Paulo back within striking distance once more.

His efforts are likely to be in vain, but this is nonetheless a timely mini-revival for a striker whose star had dimmed as the awesome foursome strutted their stuff. While he had done well enough before the World Cup (4 goals in 9 starts, an average WhoScored rating of 7.24), a run of ineffective showings off the bench after the tournament were more like his disastrous 2013 campaign, during which his goalscoring was overshadowed by rampant indiscipline.

Recent displays, though, suggest he still has plenty to offer. His 9 league goals make him São Paulo’s joint-top scorer in Série A, but he has got to that figure in only 15 starts and from just 29 shots – meaning his strike rate is far better than that of Alexandre Pato, who has had 48 attempts on goal. His shooting accuracy of 65.5% is also the best of players in the squad with a significant number of attempts on goal.

It should not be surprising that he fails to match the Tricolor’s other forwards – especially the hard-working, versatile Kardec – in other areas: his 0.7 key passes per game is on a par with defensive midfielders Maicon and Souza, while Pato and Kardec both average more. He also makes fewer passes (18.1 per game) and accurate crosses (2 all season) than his fellow attackers.

But that lack of all-round contribution matters little when he is in full fox-in-the-box mode. With so many creative players, São Paulo sometimes benefit from having someone to play on the shoulder (a squad-high 1.1 offsides per game tells its own story) and put away the straightforward chances; only penalty-taker Rogério Ceni has scored as many as his 7 goals from inside the area.

His coach certainly appears happy with the former Sevilla man’s renaissance. “He’s fighting for every ball, which he didn’t do before,” Muricy said this week. “He lives for goals and is now scoring more. He’s done well since getting into the side.”

The only bad news for São Paulo fans – aside from the fact that time is running out on their title challenge – is that his form is attracting other clubs. Flamengo are thought to be keen on making him their big off-season signing, while there have also been rumours of one last payday away from Brazil.

For now, though, they would do well to sit back and enjoy the show. O Fabuloso is back and as fabulous as ever. 

Where do you see Luís Fabiano’s future? Does he still have enough to offer at this level or should he move abroad? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below