If he wins the Brazilian League title, Filipe Luis will be one trophy away from Guardiola’s number of achievements on his Barcelona debut.

Libertadores, Supercopa do Brasil, Copa do Brasil and Campeonato Carioca are the four titles that Filipe Luis has lifted in just 14 months as Flamengo’s main coach. The Santa Catarina native has already surpassed the number of accomplishments he achieved early in the careers of world-famous coaches, such as Zinedine Zidane, who won three trophies as a rookie and led Real Madrid in 2016 – work that led to him being awarded the FIFA World Coach of the Year award that year. At the moment, Felipe is only behind Guardiola, but he could achieve the achievement of the Spaniard, who won six titles with Barcelona between 2008 and 2009, if Flamengo wins the Brazilian League and the Club World Cup.

According to Bola de Cristal, the Brazilian Championship prediction tool, prepared by GLOBO in partnership with UFMG, Flamengo has a 97.2% chance of winning the tournament, and will be able to lift the cup next Wednesday (3), if they beat Ceara in the Maracanã, in the penultimate round of the competition. The only one who can still snatch the trophy from the red and black is Palmeiras, who have only a 2.8% chance of winning, and not only need to win their next two matches, but also rely on Flamengo’s stumbles.

On the continents, there are three confrontations until the cup. The first match will be against Mexico’s Cruz Azul on December 10 in Doha, Qatar. If they win, Flamengo will face Egypt’s Pyramids on the 13th, trying to reach the final against France’s Paris Saint-Germain four days later.

The Hero’s Journey Felipe Luis

After 8 years at Atletico Madrid (2010-2014 and 2015-2019), interspersed with a season at Chelsea (2014-2015), Filipe Luis decided it was time to return to Brazil. After winning the Copa America Cup with the Brazilian national team, in July 2019, the player said at the time that he wanted to return to the country, but that this must be for the benefit of his favorite club, which is living a prelude to the era of victories.

– Back to Brazil? Only if he goes to Flamengo. This is the weight. I’ve been a Flamengo fan since I was little. Flamengo is in a moment where he can fight for everything – said the Santa Catarina native in a press conference, after this victory playing for Brazil. The speech contains traces of Lewis’s analytical vision, which will not only be put to good use in fulfilling his desire to defend the Red and Black, but will also be essential when he begins his coaching career five years later.

With ten titles won as an athlete in red and black, between 2019 and 2022, Felipe has been part of the club’s most successful era, hanging up his boots at the end of 2023, at the age of 38. The Santa Catarina native’s dream and talent to lead a football team was evident in his final years as a player, as he occasionally showed detailed tactical understanding in interviews, was seen alongside coaches studying matches or wearing the captain’s armband. Demonstrate a leader’s attitude in the field.

About a month after his retirement as a full-back, he was invited by Flamengo’s board of directors, headed at the time by Rodolfo Landim, to take charge of the club’s under-17 team. The young trainer achieved rapid success and together with the sons of Ninho in June 2024 won the Rio Cup in this category. That same month, a new and bigger challenge arose: captaining the red and black U-20 team, which was competing in a world championship. Felipe once again showed his quality in a short time. In his view, for the first time, in August last year, the Red and Black lifted the Under-20 Intercontinental Cup, scoring 2-1 against Olympiacos, in a Maracana stadium full of Flamengo fans chanting “Filipe Luis” at the end of the match.

Focusing on the unprecedented achievement, with important disagreements for the professional team at a time when there were crises between the players and Tite, Landim gave great confidence in the main coach: in September 2024, the Santa Catarina native was invited to lead the Flamengo main team, on a temporary basis. His whirlwind journey to the club’s highest level looked like something straight out of a movie. “With great power comes great responsibility”, this is a saying from the classic Spider-Man movie, said by Uncle Ben to the young hero, and it can also be spoken to the young prodigy of the drawing boards, who already made his debut in the semi-final of the Brazilian Cup, played against Corinthians. To the delight of the Red and Black, Felipe started on the right foot, progressed to the final, claimed the trophy, became a head coach, and continues to save the days of Flamengo fans, by winning four titles in just over a year, which could turn into six at the end of this season.

Filipe Luis, the new Pep Guardiola?

At first glance, it may seem like a stretch to compare the new arrival to Pep Guardiola, who many football experts consider to be the greatest coach of all time, but the Santa Catarina native’s path so far closely resembles the beginning of the famous Spaniard’s career. While also taking an interest in the paintings of his captains in his final years as a professional player, Pep hung up his boots in 2005, at the Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa. Although he did not say goodbye to his favorite club, like Felipe, Guardiola did make his debut as coach of a secondary team of the team he supports, Barcelona. He started with the Catalan club in 2007, where he led Barcelona B, with whom he won the Spanish Second Division title that year.

The following season, Guardiola played professionally at Barcelona, ​​becoming the best rookie coach in football history, and the beginning of the club’s golden era, which revolutionized the sport by showing the world the power of “Tiki Taka” taught by the master. In one year and two months, between 2008 and 2009, Pep won the Spanish League twice and lifted the Champions League, the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa del Rey. The coach remained at Barcelona until 2012, where he oversaw the rise of great football stars, such as Messi, who won the FIFA World Player of the Year award for the first time in 2009.

There is no way to predict whether Filipe Luis will achieve this success with Flamengo, especially since at the moment he has not even discussed renewing his contract, which expires next December. However, although the Brazilian does not favor short touches and continuous movements in his tactics and is more in favor of a vertical game, it is possible to notice great similarities in the Santa Catarina native’s stance with the behavior that Pep adopted at the beginning of his career. Moreover, the red and black team has just become the best club in South America, can reach the world title in the next few days, has great financial flows, a technical position and the best players. That way, if he wins his sixth title in 14 months and chooses to stick around in the red and black, Felipe will have fertile ground to reach, who knows, the level currently occupied by only Guardiola.