Scout Report: Marcos Antônio

Scouting one of Europe's most exciting players in Marcos Antônio.

I was originally planning to write a scout report on Kulusevski first, and then Antônio, but I decided against it for two reasons. Firstly, Marcos Antônio’s Champions League performance against Real Madrid (how was he that good, I’m still not over it). And secondly, a lot of wonderful articles about Kulusevski are already available, written by people who are much better at this than me, whereas the same cannot be said about Antônio. I hope you like this one :)

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Marcos Antônio: Brazil’s metronomic midfield talent

Around two weeks ago on the night of the 21st of October, Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid faced Luis Castro’s Shakhtar Donetsk, in a matchup that favored the former. What made this tilt even more so in Madrid’s favor was the fact that Shakthar was without the majority of their first-team regulars due to COVID-19. It was set to be a fairly comfortable victory for Zidane’s side, or so everyone thought.

Contrary to what was expected, Shakhtar Donetsk managed to win this one 3-2. Many things were apparent on the pitch that night. Real Madrid’s tactical issues, dependence on certain players, Shakhtar’s excellent performers. Most of them were positives for the Ukrainian club. However, there was one negative. A major negative; Marcos Antônio is fast outgrowing the club.

A short overview

On 13th June 2000, Marcos Antônio was born in Poções, a small municipality in Northeastern Brazil. At the age of 11, he moved to Curitiba and soon started playing for the local side Vitorinha after a friend of his father’s took him to the trials. He came through the Athletico Paraenense youth setup, where he was deployed either as a right-back or as a midfielder. Estoril offered Antônio his first professional contract in 2018. This was where he established himself as a highly promising young midfielder. Establishing himself on a larger stage as a well, he was an integral part of the Brazil side which participated in the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India.

Antônio’s talent was visible from a very young age. The only reason he wasn’t snapped up by foreign clubs was the legal issue surrounding Brazilian players under the age of 18. On February 19th in 2019, the Brazilian officially joined top Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk. Since then, he has represented them 24 times.

Style of play

Antônio is a midfielder who is comfortable playing anywhere in midfield. He has been deployed as a deep-lying playmaker, a central midfielder as well as an advanced playmaker. At just 168cm, he is quite short. As we often see with these short, graceful midfielders though, the height is only an advantage. It allows Antônio to have a low center of gravity which in turn helps him have good balance. Due to this, the 20-year-old is capable of dribbling when under pressure as well.

Marcos Antônio has that kind of effortless grace that we see in players such as Thiago Alcantara and Marco Veratti. Every pass is rich with technical excellence and there is essentially no point in pressing these players. The same can be said of Antônio, but not yet at the level of the other two. His passes are short, crisp, and incisive. Breaking the opposition’s lines is second nature to him. This is not due to a lack of passing range though. Antônio’s long passes are always well-weighted and accurate as well. In terms of technique, passing, and control, Antônio is the cream of the crop.

Very much a press-resistant midfielder, it’s the Brazilian ginga style combined with great ball control which are his strongest assets. This is yet another thing that makes him a very capable option to play at the bottom of midfield. As we can see in the photo below, Antônio likes to drop deep, pick up the ball, and play long passes to spread the play. This ability translates well into his rare yet spectacular shooting ability, which allows him to curl the ball into the net from outside the box.

Metronome

A metronome is defined as a device that produces a regular repeated sound like a clock, to help musicians play music at a particular speed.

Marcos Antônio is the personification of a metronomic midfielder. Whether it is through his quick passing, his work-rate, or his relentless pressing, the Brazilian is someone who does the basics very well and keeps his team going. It’s not individual showboating that he wants to display. He wants to show that he has what it takes to be the heart and the brains of his team. This is exactly what made him stand out against Real Madrid. The pure desire and work-rate Antônio showed was not a one-off. His work-rate is one of the most impressive aspects of his play. In the Champions League this season, he has attempted 53 pressures in 180 minutes, out of which 19 were in the middle third.

Don’t let his work-rate fool you though, Antônio is a player who is more than just a workhorse. His awareness and quick-thinking are very strong. Here, we have two images demonstrating exactly this. (I’m so sorry for the image quality T_T) In the first image, we see Antônio in his half of the pitch. He is about to receive a pass and has one player advancing and another just a few steps up the field. His quick thinking is demonstrated here, as he takes a step forward and angles his body as if he is going to receive the pass. Seeing this, his marker advances to press him. However, Antônio just lets the ball run past which catches his marker off-balance, and with another touch, he swivels and changes direction to move further up the field catching the other player off-guard as well.

This then allows him to progress the ball. What this does is much more than just show us his quick-thinking. By turning a 2v1 or even a 3v1 to his advantage here, he essentially gives his team a 2v1 advantage somewhere else over the field. This is extremely useful in a defensive midfielder considering their importance to a team and possessional play.

Antônio’s passing is always impressive. During his display against Madrid, he had a 91% passing accuracy as well as 6/6 long balls completed. Here, we have an example that shows his passing and awareness

In the first image, we see Marcos on the edge of the box receiving the ball from his teammate. His teammate plays a pass to him and runs into space. Then Antônio plays a very well-weighted ball over the defense into his path, leaving him through on goal. That’s not bad, but it’s not excessively impressive either. However, the situation was a bit different. Antônio could have easily caught his marker off-balance and played a grounded pass.

However, take a look at the opposition player towards the top of the image. He would have then gotten enough time along with the other defenders to move forward a step or so, and catch Shakhtar offside. This might have been instinct or great decision-making, whichever it is, Antônio displays such awareness regularly. At times, like against Real Madrid, this makes him unplayable when the opposition finds out he is two steps ahead of the opposition not only physically but also mentally.

Potential

As mentioned earlier, the performance against Real Madrid would have made it clear to the Shakhtar fans that Antônio will soon outgrow the Ukranians. A move to a big European club looks to be on the cards. But where should he go next?

Well, Antônio would perform best in a possession-based system. This visualization by Ninad Barbadikar is a good representation of what kind of player is he is. The high number of ball progressions, as well as duels, shows us that he can do well both as an offensive-minded or defensive-minded midfielder. But, I would argue that his progressive dribbling and ball carrying ability is best utilized at the bottom of a three-man midfield rather than as a B2B midfielder. It would also allow him to make the most of his great passing range.

In my opinion, Antônio would do best in a Fernandinho-esque role in a team which plays attacking, possession-based football. The points upon which he has to improve would have to be his defensive decision-making and his positioning. It could be done extremely well under a world-class coach for sure. However, it would be ideal if he were to remain with Shakhtar and continue establishing himself in the starting 11. Playtime should be his priority. After all, the top European clubs will be more than willing to wait to sign a player such as Antônio.

Let me know if you liked this. If not, how should I improve? What would you like to see next?

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I will be posting here once or twice a month as of now, and let’s see where this newsletter ends up. Thanks for reading :)