Samuele Inácio made his debut from the start wearing the Borussia Dortmund shirt. The Italian-Brazilian forward, born in 2008, was positioned alongside Brandt and Guirassy in the match won 4-0 against Freiburg. Previously, coach Kovac had given Inácio playing time in the match against Bayern Munich (February 28), in the one against Bayer Leverkusen, and in the match against Hoffenheim. Clearly, his performances and qualities must have convinced the BVB coach to grant him his first starting shirt among the pros, especially in a match that could have secured Dortmund’s mathematical qualification for the next Champions League. And everything went well, indeed very well: as mentioned, Borussia won 4-0, secured their place in the Champions League, and Inácio also made the most of his opportunity.
The forward raised in Atalanta stayed on the field for 74 minutes, filled with runs down the wing, intensity, and good plays. So much so that when he was called back to the bench to make way for Daniel Svensson, the Signal Iduna Park crowd gave him a long applause. Inácio actively participated in Borussia’s second goal, scored by Guirassy, which effectively closed the match after less than fifteen minutes: Inácio took the ball, started a solo progression, faced two Freiburg defenders, skipped one, made a cut into the central area of the field, and delivered a horizontal pass to Brandt, who then provided the assist for the Guinean forward.
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In general, Inácio finished the match with three key passes, two accurate crosses out of 4 attempts, only one failed touch out of 30 total, and a 93% pass completion rate. In short: he played a very high-level match, as admitted by Kovac to DAZN at the end of the game: “The boy made a great debut today,” he said. “He played really well. This boy will give us a lot of satisfaction. He is a huge talent.” One of Inácio’s teammates, Maximilian Beier, also confirmed their coach’s words: “Maybe he could have scored from one of my crosses: that would have been the icing on the cake, but he played an excellent match and should enjoy this day. He is a talented boy with incredible dribbling skills; he should just do what he wants on the field. He is so good that you just have to let him play.”
In light of the data and certain words, it is clear that Borussia Dortmund strongly believes in Inácio’s qualities. His starting debut in this sense has significant meaning, even in terms of the market: his contract expires in 2027, and in the meantime, German media have reported interest from several top European clubs, including PSG and Barcelona. And then there is the National Team: Inácio has dual nationality (Italian and Brazilian), and it seems that the Seleção has also set its sights on him. So far, however, his youth career has been in blue: after scoring five goals at the U17 European Championships, which earned him the title of top scorer of the tournament, Inácio made his debut with the U19 team and wore the number 10 shirt. There are also concrete possibilities that Silvio Baldini, former coach of the U21 and now interim coach of the senior team, could call him up for the two teams he manages. This would also be a significant signal, after all, we are talking about a player who has already accumulated some minutes in one of the most important teams in the Bundesliga, thus in European football. And he has done so impressing everyone with his quality and personality.