Felipe Melo: “With VAR we would have eliminated Madrid and won the Champions League”

Felipe Melo still hasn’t forgotten the Galatasaray’s meeting with Real Madrid almost 10 years ago. The midfielder was a member of a side packed with talent - players like Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba, and in that edition of the Champions League, Gala had beaten Manchester United in the group stage and eliminated Schalke in the Round of 16. According to the Brazilian, interviewed today by Diretta.it, that team “could have won the European Cup”. If they didn’t he argues, it was because they crossed paths with Real Madrid in the quarter finals. That tie, according to Felipe Melo, was conditioned by several refereeing errors: “I am convinced that, with VAR, we would have won,” he exclaimed. “In the first leg we lost 3-0, it’s true, but there was a foul during the move that led to the second goal - that was decisive. In the second leg, we conceded a goal from Cristiano that was clearly offside and, despite that, we turned it around to lead 3-1″.

Mou’s face

The midfielder, who now plays for Fluminense, added that Mourinho’s face was a picture and the image of the Madrid coach stuck with him: “We scored three goals in a quarter of an hour and I saw Mou stupefied, as if thinking ‘what the hell is going on here?’ Later, Madrid made it 3-2 because we were unbalanced while trying to get a fourth goal, but I reiterate: with VAR, we could have won the Champions League”.

In Italy, Felipe Melo starred for Fiorentina, Juventus and Inter Milan (who he joined after spending four years at Galatasaray, from 2011 to 2015). The Bianconeri fans criticize him for favouring Inter, something that the Brazilian will not deny: “I’ve been an Inter fan since I was a child, and after playing there, even more. Juve, however, was my first great team and I learned a lot there. I arrived as a child and made many mistakes. They improved me as a person.”