Bremer is the most prolific central defender in Serie A in the last three years

He has given himself the best gift, in three days he will have a birthday as a phenomenon. On Friday, Gleison Bremer will celebrate twenty-five years and alongside the cake, the candles, the gifts, there will be the memories of the umpteenth magical night of his Italian career. This time, however, is one of the unforgettable ones: because with the goal scored against Inter, the Brazilian consolidated his leadership as a central defender who has scored the most in Serie A in the three years. Nobody like him would like to write. And not only for his many firsts in marking and for his qualities as a defensive leader, where he is now an excellence in Italy and in Europe. Bremer has always had the vice of scoring, but now there are real striker numbers around him.

Best of all

–

He hadn’t scored since November 22, from the home match against Udinese. He has chosen the most suitable night, against the most famous opponent, to return to update his percentages upwards even in front of goal. Yes, because in the meantime it should be remembered that Bremer in the calendar year 2021 was the central defender with the highest number of goals among the five main European leagues (six goals). Now the joy of the momentary one to zero on Sunday evening at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino allows him to detach his colleagues as a central Serie A goalscorer from the 2019-2020 championship onwards: from the first time in Marassi’s away match at Genoa on November 30th. 2019 has collected eleven goals in Serie A (to which two more are added in the Italian Cup). The competition is burning: better than Milenkovic (9 goals), Bonucci, De Ligt (7) and Skriniar (6). It is no longer a mystery that Gleison cares about goals as much as a solid defensive performance. “Yes, they are very important to me”, he always said. Even Ivan Juric one day said: “Gleison is really obsessed with scoring”. In the last championship he managed to score five goals, reaching his record of scoring in a championship. This year he is at three: one of his personal goals is to improve this tally in the championship final as well.

Impassable

–

Of course, Bremer is a central defender by profession. But here is all his greatness: on Sunday evening he added another evening of applause to his already rich collection, taking home first Dzeko’s “scalp” (marked in the initial part of the first half), then that of Lautaro (canceled until its replacement). A novelty? None. Because for at least two years Gleison has been in the habit of canceling the opposing center-forward, whether they are called Cristiano Ronaldo, Lukaku or Vlahovic. That it is an impassable wall is not only a widespread opinion, but it is the story of statistics. In our Serie A he can only be considered in the wake of Koulibaly: he is the defender with the record of recoveries (239), of aerial duels won (102), of intercepted balls (90), second for defensive headers (58 to 57) with Gianmarco Ferrari). His stature has exploded to the point of becoming of international caliber: he is also at the top at the European level. An example? In the five main European leagues he is the defender who has intercepted the most balls. But he is also the leader in recoveries, and the fourth for aerial duels won. There is no other defender in Europe who is at the top in all these performance statistics. In the midst of his formidable season there is the out of tune line of the Brazil coach, Tite, who continues not to call him. Even for the next World Cup qualifying matches (with Chile and Bolivia) he excluded him from the 25, despite having the Seleçao already snatched the pass for Qatar 2022. There is a serious doubt that Tite is not watching the Serie A matches carefully.