Brazil’s team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar claims that manager Dunga was confused by a medical update on left-back Marcelo, which resulted in Dunga omitting the Real Madrid man from his squad for qualifiers against Uruguay and Paraguay.
Marcelo was left out in favour of Juventus’ Alex Sandro, a decision which hurt Marcelo. Dunga claims that a medical update via Whatsapp from his doctors suggested that Marcelo was suffering from shoulder and calf injuries. However, Lasmar suggests that Dunga got his wires crossed.
“Dunga was confused a bit. I talked to Marcelo directly. Before the call, the contact is much more detailed than in WhatsApp messages. The day before, I called the player and asked what condition he was in. There were two games he did not play in due to a medical problem.
“In recovery from a shoulder injury, he ended up suffering a calf strain. He said he was recovering well, if all went well, he would play against Roma in the Champions League. The decision to call or not is with the coach, our job is to ascertain the condition the player is in at the time of the call up.”
Marcelo recovered prior to the Brazil squad meeting up and played two games for Madrid, “There was a great controversy about contact between CBF and Real Madrid. But there was. I’m a doctor for the Seleção and contacted Marcelo. I’ve known him for many years, what he told me over the phone was enough, and the information was passed to the Dunga,” Lasmar explained.
