Most clubs give the no10 shirt to their most important player. Botafogo are not like most clubs.
For O Glorioso, the No. 7 shirt carries more weight than any other. The club’s biggest icon, Garrincha, wore it across the 50s and 60s, as did prolific goalscorer Tulio in the 90s. Nowadays, the honour has been bestowed upon Luiz Henrique, who was the club’s hero in this year’s final of the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores.
Taking the pressure of the No. 7 in his stride, the forward opened the scoring and won the penalty for his side’s second goal in the 3-1 win over Atletico Mineiro in the final at El Monumental, in Buenos Aires.
The historic victory also secured their places at the FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2024, where they will meet Pachuca in the FIFA Derby of the Americas at the Stadium 974 in Qatar on Wednesday (December 11).
“I am over the moon. I have always dreamed of this, I have always worked hard for it,” Luiz Henrique said following the game. “I am grateful to my team for helping me every day. Now we need to celebrate because we are Libertadores champions.
“This group fights until the end. We push ourselves in training, in matches, always wanting to give the best account of ourselves. This was written in the stars.”
When he was announced as the most expensive signing in the club’s history at the start of the year following a €16m move from Real Betis, Luiz Henrique took on the responsibility of raising the club’s level and instilling a winning mentality. In one of the most important games in the history of a club known as the ‘Lone Star’, it was Henrique’s not-so-lonely star that shone the brightest.
Botafogo were reduced to ten players in the first minute of the game when holding midfielder Gregore was sent off. The numerical inferiority didn’t halt the momentum of the Rio de Janeiro club, though, who stood tall against swathes of Galo pressure.
Then, after a nice piece of play from Thiago Almada down the left 35 minutes in, the ball broke for Luiz Henrique who duly fired into the back of the Atletico net.
Then just before the break, the forward chased down a long ball and managed to get to it before goalkeeper Everson and Guilherme Arana, with the former bringing him down for a penalty. Alex Telles stepped up, and rattled home the spot-kick to double Botafogo’s lead.
“There was a lot of tension at the start of the game,” he admitted. “[the red card] 30 seconds in, it was chaos.
“I am so grateful to Botafogo. I said in my first interview that Botafogo should be right at the top because it’s a club where everyone works really hard – they put in a lot of hard work every day.
“That’s the one word that describes how I’m feeling: grateful. You have to stay focused and keep your feet on the ground, and that means there’s still more to come.”
Luiz Henrique’s “more to come” perfectly sums up a year that is not over yet, but has already seen him enjoy a number of personal victories. With a Libertadores winner’s medal already secured, Henrique’s focus will now return to the Brazilian domestic league, where the no7 has been instrumental in his side sitting at the top of the table with just two games left to play.
With a three-point lead over Palmeiras in second, Botafogo will be looking to secure the Serie A title and, in doing so, complete a famous double achieved only by Santos in 1962 and Flamengo in 2019.
“We have been saying all the time that we were going to win a trophy,” he said.
“Not just one trophy, though – we also want to be champions of Brazil. I am confident that we will be, because this group fights until the end and has suffered a lot to get to this point.”
This year has also been successful for Luiz Henrique on the international stage. Brought into the Brazil camp in September by coach Dorival Junior, he’s scored twice in six FIFA World Cup 26 qualifiers, including a late winner away to Chile, to help the Seleção recover a shaky start to the campaign.
Winning the Copa Libertadores has put the icing on Luiz Enrique’s 2024 cake. If Botafogo only give the No. 7 shirt to their most important players, helping his side to ‘Eternal Glory’ has proven that his name deserves to be on the back of it. (Fifa.com)
