Everton star Bernard got involved in a fight on Twitter on Friday, quickly becoming a trending topic in Brazil.
The quarrel happened because of the big rivalry between his former club Atletico Mineiro and their city rivals Cruzeiro.
With the Coronavirus break, Brazilian TV has been showing several classic games in the past few week. On Thursday, they broadcast Cruzeiro beating Atletico 6-1 in a match from 2011.
So pundit Hugo Lopes, who’s a Cruzeiro fan, provoked Bernard by saying he was present both at this match as in Brazil’s 7-1 defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup. The sum of goals conceded in these two matches, 13, is used as the lucky number by Atletico Mineiro fans.
“There’s a player out there who represents his team… He featured in 6-1 and 7-1… 6 + 7 = 13. I didn’t say who or what team … Let’s see if the cap will fit anyone,” tweeted Hugo Lopes.
So Bernard came up fuming.
Cruzeiro have just been relegated to Série B, and recent reports have shown they have huge debts, with club officials using the club’s credit cards for their own expenses.
It’s even been claimed that to avoid relegation, they hired a religious leader, called ‘Pai de Santo’ in Afro-Brazilian culture, but haven’t paid him.
The Everton player used it all in his response, getting some big love from Atletico Mineiro fans after that.
“Nice that you learned how to add, but I’m not surprised, after so many debts that your team have and are showing up every day, I would also be good at it! 😰”
“By the way, today I am in the Premier League… and if you need money to pay any debt, or pay the Pai de Santo, give me a call here. ‘Great’ opinion maker you are, a hug #Peace.”
When writing hug, which is ‘abraço’ in Portuguese, Bernard made sure to use an emoji to emphasise the letter ‘B’, so he could remember Cruzeiro fans of which division they’re playing in this year.
Alias, hoje to na PL.. e caso vocês precisem de dinheiro pra pagar alguma dívida, ou pagar o pai de santo, ce me dá um toque aqui. “Grande” formador de opinião, aquele a🅱️raço. #Pas
— Bernard Duarte (@b_10duarte) April 24, 2020