Geracao Hexa. Bruno Guimaraes. Driving Force of the Hurricane
The beginning of Bruno Guimaraes’ career at Lyon was tumultuous. Few expected him to make such a solid debut at the start of 2020. His first five matches were easy, calm, confident and at the same time bright, it seemed that this guy has been playing in the Old World for a long time: he stood out against Juventus in the first leg of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, and in the derby with St. – Etienne. Bruno was even named the team’s best player in a 5-1 crushing defeat to PSG, but that explosive start was abruptly canceled by the first outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent suspension of Ligue 1 Guimaraes had to wait five months for his sixth game with Lyon. During this time, a lot has changed. During the previous five, the Brazilian had been skillfully supported by defensive midfielder Lucas Touzar, but he left for Hertha Hertha which meant that with Maxence Cacre’s explosive progress, Bruno was now forced to take on a deeper role in midfield, a pure defensive midfielder. I wrote a long time ago that the role of pure volante is not quite the one in which Bruxo is most useful. While the position is far from unusual for Guimarães, the limited positional freedom and additional responsibility for destruction and minimal involvement in creation have significantly weakened his influence on the game. After the covid break, Lyon have lost three of their four games, The appointment of Peter Bos as head coach has played into the hands of Guimarães, with Kacre being used as a more defensive midfielder and the Brazilian given more creative freedom to support attacks. This allowed Bruno to play especially well with his friend and compatriot Paqueta. They gave a gala concert at the Parc des Princes. Bruno came to life and showed the world his real self, with the prospect of becoming a world star. Another thing is that “Lyon” was somewhat in a fever, and the team trudged in the middle of the table. However, this did not affect the level of Bruno himself in any way. Playing as a hybrid six-eight in Peter Boss’s 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-2-1 sets, he can do everything you would expect from an extra-class midfielder – from rebounding the ball to smart passing, elegant possession of the ball, long accurate passes, chance creation, effective dribbling and excellent vision.