“To beat us, the German or Swiss would have to spend several incarnations here. He would have to be born in Vila Isabel, or Vaz Lobo. He would need to be a street vendor in Largo da Carioca. He would need a whole experience of bar, gafieira, cachaça, general trickery”, wrote Nelson Rodrigues, in a famous text published in the magazine Fatos & Fotos, in June 1962, in celebration of Brazil’s second world championship, in Chile.
In the fight for sixth, in 2026, in North America, the team will have its legitimate representative from Vila Isabel, with experience that could make a difference against the Germans, Swiss and other opponents. Proud of his roots in the traditional and bohemian neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Bruno Guimarães, 28, carries them in the uniforms he wears in European football.
The number 39 shirt he wears at Newcastle – and previously wore at Lyon – is a reference to the number of his father’s taxi in a fleet in the north of Rio. When Brazil’s current midfielder lived on Rua Oito de Outubro, in Noel Rosa’s neighborhood, it was Dick’s racing that supported the family.
Bruno likes to narrate the moment he arrived at Athletico Paranaense, in 2017, at the age of 19. It was after some layoffs at big clubs in Rio de Janeiro, the start at Audax Rio and a good spell at Osasco Audax, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo.
He debated with his father the shirt he would choose for the new team and mentioned the idea of wearing 97, because of the year of his birth. “How about 39?” Dick replied, according to the player’s account. “39 gave us everything we have, Bruno. Our house, our food, our furniture, his boots. It was all because of the taxi.”
The young man then went to the club determined to accept the recommendation, but received a kit from the wardrobe with numbered clothes. To his astonishment, it was the taxi number. He called his father, in a call with tears on both ends of the line. “I said, ‘This is a sign, make no mistake, here I will shine.'”
The person who recommended his signing for Athletico was coach Fernando Diniz, who had managed him at Osasco Audax. “He has the soul of a player. When a problem arises, he knows how to face it. He has the soul of a great player”, said the coach, at the time.
It soon became clear that these were not empty words. A key player in important triumphs for the team from Paraná – the 2018 Copa Sudamericana and 2019 Copa do Brasil –, he was bought by Lyon, maintained a high level in France and landed at Newcastle as a star in the English club’s great project, bought in 2021 by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.
The club has not yet taken off as intended, but it achieved its first elite national title in 70 years, the 2024/25 English League Cup. Idolized by fans, the Brazilian was a rare highlight of the team last season.
For me, 39 is magic. Number 39 gave me everything
Bruno arrived at the national team in 2020, at the hands of Tite, and never left. Present at the Olympic gold medal with the under-23 team, at the Tokyo Games –held in 2021, a year late, due to the Covid-19 pandemic–, he was also at the 2022 World Cup, as a reserve.
In the current cycle, he gained the position and maintained his prestige with different coaches, which did not change with Carlo Ancelotti. Already under the Italian’s command, he found the net in the 3-0 victory over Chile, in the World Cup qualifiers, in September last year. The game was at Maracanã, where he supported Vasco several times, less than two kilometers from his old home in Vila Isabel.
With Ancelotti, Bruno Guimarães sees the opportunity to combine the fun of the north of Rio with European tactical discipline. So, mischievously, he tried to celebrate 3-0 for three and also for zero. “He’s an Italian coach, right? Conceding few goals is fundamental”, he smiled.
In the World Cup, to the player’s sadness, the number goes from 1 to 26. But he will carry the 39 on his skin, tattooed on his right calf.
