Everything pointed towards retirement. And, boy, he’d earned it.

The man Diego Armando Maradona called “one of the best full-backs” I’ve ever seen” and “the third best player in the world behind Leo [Messi] and Cristiano [Ronaldo]” had spent nigh on two decades infusing ‘O Jogo Bonito’ with beauty. Blessed with Zinedine Zidane’s touch and flair elite dribblers would be proud of, Marcelo had departed the Bernabeu in mid-2022 as the most decorated player in Real Madrid’s 120-year history, had won two Olympic medals with Brazil, been named in two FIFA World Cup™ All-Star Teams and six FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World 11s.The left-back had joined Olympiacos but, in five months in Piraeus, had failed to start a single league match. It was time, they said, for Marcelo to hang up his boots, spend time with his stunning wife Clarice, youngest son Liam – an aspiring footballer on the books of Fluminense – and mammoth Newfoundland dog Kora in Brazil, look after the career of his eldest son Enzo, a Spain U-15 boy wonder wowing at Real Madrid, in Spain, work on his business activities and enjoy the fruits of his success.

But Marcelo had unfinished business in Laranjeiras. Marcelo had left his boyhood club, lump in throat, as an 18-year-old in 2007. He was determined to return. Since doing so he has inspired the greatest chapter in Fluminense’s glorious history.

FIFA sat down with Marcelo to discuss conquering the Copa Libertadores, Flu’s FIFA Club World Cup Saudi Arabia 2023™ quest, winning the competition four times with Real Madrid, the quality of Jhon Arias and German Cano, and working under “incredible” Fernando Diniz.