Romario and Bebeto: From bitter enemies to best friends

By Svend Frandsen

When Bebeto put Brazil 2-0 up against Netherlands in the 1994 World Cup quarter-finals, he made for the sideline and began swinging his arms, rocking an imaginary baby in celebration of his two-day-old son, Matthaus, named after Germany's Lothar.

Joining Bebeto was Romario, generally known for rocking the boat rather than the cradle. The celebration has proved to become one of the legendary images in football history. However, for people with in-depth knowledge of the atmosphere in the Brazilian camp, this was indeed a very strange scenario.

For years, Lethal Weapon I and II - as they were dubbed in the American media - had been at odds, forcing their coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, to become a true diplomat and lay down a truce between the two hot-headed matadors for the good of the Brazilian side as they headed into the World Cup.

For all the skills available to the coach, the psychological battle between Romario and Bebeto threatened to break the Brazilian squad into two camps. It was Romario who gave Bebeto the nickname Chorao, or 'Cry baby', for his habit of pouting to referees. It was also Romario who called a news conference before the World Cup to announce that he would not sit next to Bebeto on the team's flight to California. At the same time, Romario underlined the differences between the strikers by saying: "We are different people. Bebeto is the type that stays at home. I am a street cat."

Part of the background for their fierce rivalry ahead of the tournament was of course related to their battle in conquering the Spanish Primera Liga. At the top of his game, Bebeto finished on top of the Spanish goal-scoring table in 1992-93 with an amazing 29 goals for Deportivo La Coruna. This impressive feat was soon forgotten, however, when Romario stole the headlines the following season with no less than 30 goals for Barcelona. There was certainly no love lost as Bebeto and Romario hooked up with the Brazilian squad for USA '94.

However, while the rivalry between Romario and Bebeto was intense before the tournament, their mutual drive for success was ultimately to turn the duo into best friends. Brazil had not won the World Cup for 24 years heading into the tournament and Parreira had succeeded in instilling in his players a burning desire to return to Brazil with the trophy. United in their cause, Romario and Bebeto put their personal differences aside. Indeed, as if to underscore their camaraderie, Romario and Bebeto held a joint news conference in which Romario said that reports of enmity between the two players were 'lies'. "I respect Bebeto a lot," he said. "He knows how much I like him. Nothing that is said is going to affect anything we do on the field." Bebeto said: "The affection I have for him is very strong."

Though enjoying the same hunger for goals, they were different in build, personality and style. Romario was often criticised for being completely anonymous on the field only to then use all his powers of deception to produce a goal. Bebeto, on the other hand, was quick, nimble, elegant in front of goal and superb at bending free kicks around a defensive wall - a roamer capable of playing in midfield as well as attack.

"The only thing we have in common is that we both score goals," Romario said. "Bebeto is a much more free-flowing player than I am. For 90 minutes, he's always concentrating on what's going on. My strength is that a lot of people think I'm asleep." Bebeto said of Romario: "He finishes like nobody else. He's got velocity in short spaces: there, he's really my friend. People think he's hanging around, stopped, then, bang, it's a goal." And the true signal that the two had left their differences in the dressing-room for the good of the team came when Romario rushed up with midfielder Mazinho to join Bebeto in that paternal chorus line in the brilliant win against Netherlands.

"After scoring that goal, the first thing that popped into my head was my son, because he was the only one of my children whose birth I missed, and that was because I was at the World Cup," Bebeto later said. "I was present at the birth of my other two children so, when I scored, it occurred to me to gesture as if I were taking him in my arms ... even speaking about this now, it gives me goosebumps and makes me feel very emotional. Then, while I was gesturing as if I held a child in my arms, I looked sideways and saw Mazinho and Romario doing the same thing and suddenly there we all were making the same gesture ... and that's how it happened. I think that celebration sticks in the memory because it all happened so spontaneously."

Indeed, if their coach had any doubts that the alleged strained relationship between Romario and Bebeto would have any effect on their goalscoring abilities during the tournament, they were surely put to bed. Brazil found the net ten times on their way to their ultimate triumph and Romario and Bebeto shared eight goals between them, reserving their place in the history books as one of the deadliest attacking duos ever.

And to underline that their relationship had taken another turn, Romario released the following statement: "A lot of people have said the yellow jersey is a pretty jersey, but it didn't have a heart beating inside. Following this World Cup, it might be possible to say it's still a pretty jersey, but now with 11 hearts beating inside."

Bebeto's composure and passion in the finals was quite impressive judging from the personal nightmare he had experienced in the period leading up to the tournament. Bebeto's pregnant wife, Denise de Oliveira, was robbed of her car and a Rolex watch by two gunmen in an apparent attempt to kidnap Bebeto's brother Wilson. However, with his wife safe and his newborn son healthy, Bebeto revealed his true potential along with Romario. "We had a really good understanding," Bebeto now says. "Look, in football there's always the possibility of disagreements between players, but there was none of that between us. On the contrary, we understood each other really well. The moves came off naturally, I always seemed to know where he was on the pitch and he also always knew where to find me. It was perfect."

Today, the friendship survives despite continued problems. Because, while they proved perfect partners on the pitch, the same cannot be said of their attempts to find success in football management. Once lethal in front of goal, Romario proved just as cut-throat in his role as general manager of Rio de Janeiro side America, sacking head coach Bebeto in Feburary after just eight games in charge.

Bebeto led the team to three wins, a draw and four defeats during his short reign and insisted there were no hard feelings. "I respect his decision," he said. "Our friendship will exist beyond any professional situation between us."

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