At just 23 years old, Luiz Henrique established himself this Saturday as the great figure of Botafogo, leading the Rio team to win its first Copa Libertadores with an outstanding performance in the final against Atlético Mineiro, with a goal and a penalty suffered.
Born in Petrópolis, in the mountain region of Rio de Janeiro, Luiz Henrique André Rosa da Silva arrived at Botafogo in January from Betis de Seville, where he had a very discreet performance in the season and a half that he played for the Andalusian club.
The ‘Fogao’ paid around 20 million dollars for the winger, known as ‘the Panther’ and who became the most expensive signing in the history of Brazilian football, until being surpassed months later by the Argentine Thiago Almada, who also He ended up in Botafogo.
A winger with great speed and great individual technique, which allows him to overwhelm rivals in any situation, Luiz Henrique was trained at the base of Fluminense, which he joined at the age of 11 after passing a test.
– Graduated in Fluminense –
The beginnings were not easy. Coming from a humble family in Petrópolis, going and returning to training every day almost made Luiz Henrique give up on continuing in the world of football and dedicating himself to judo, a sport in which he also stood out.
However, he chose to give priority to football and climbed through all the grassroots categories of the Rio ‘tricolor’ until he reached the first team, where he played between 2020 and 2022 before being transferred to Betis.
With his first salary at Fluminense, he bought the supermarket for the family (there were six children) and later, he bought a house in the center of Petrópolis, allowing the whole family to leave the favela in which they had always lived.
Curiously, his last game with Fluminense was against Botafogo at the Nilton Santos stadium, Botafogo’s home ground.
– Direct to the selection –
Although the start at Botafogo was not as expected, suffering an injury, little by little he adapted to the Portuguese Artur Jorge’s scheme, playing on both sides and also inside, and assuming the role of team leader.
Initially using the number 99, with the departure of Víctor Sá to Russian football, in March, Luiz Henrique began to wear the most symbolic number of the ‘Glorioso’, 7, the same one that Garrincha, the greatest player of the team, used in his day. history of Botafogo, and the same one used by Túlio Maravilha, the great figure of 1995, when the club won its last Brasileirao.
An admirer of Leo Messi (he named his dog after the Argentine), Luiz Henrique debuted this year in the Brazilian team, where he is seen as one of the young people who should lead the ‘verdeamarela’ in the 2026 World Cup and with whom He has already played six games and scored two goals.
After showing off in the final of the Copa Libertadores, opening the scoring and causing the penalty that made it 2-0 for ‘Fogao’, Luiz Henrique wants to continue making history with the Rio club by achieving the double, which he has to touch by leading the Brasileirao with 3 points advantage with just six left to play.
Glory comes to Luiz Henrique at a time when he is being investigated in Spain for his alleged involvement in a scheme to manipulate sports bets, in matches in which he performed, facts that the player denies.
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