Former Brazilian international Marcelo recently spoke about his time with the Brazilian national team. The Real Madrid and Fluminense legend reminisced about his national team career on the "Easy Talk" podcast, expressing his disappointment that his efforts for the national team hadn't received enough recognition.
Marcelo represented Brazil at various levels of the national team for many years, making 58 appearances for the senior national team and participating in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. He also represented Brazil in two Olympic Games, winning bronze and silver medals at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, respectively.
When discussing his experience playing for the Brazilian national team, Marcelo said that many Brazilian players who have played in Europe for a long time need to devote a lot of time and energy to participating in national team matches, but this sacrifice is often not valued enough.
“We need to take a 10-hour flight. I’m talking about those Brazilian players who play in Europe. They have to fly for 10 hours, then spend another 7 hours to play against Peru. After that, they have to go to Ecuador and then back to Europe. The whole process is very tiring.”
"For us, this is more than just a responsibility; we're actually very willing to do it. But nobody will say, 'You participated in the World Cup, thank you for your contributions.'"
Marcelo believes that being called up to the Brazilian national team means that a player has already gained recognition, but in reality, this sense of honor has not been fully reflected in career evaluation.
"Since you selected the best players, since you called me up, it means you think I'm one of the best players. But in reality, I haven't received that recognition."
