Paulo Dybala was in attendance for the Clasico on Sunday night. The Palermo "Pibe d'Oro" snapped a selfie at the Camp Nou and posted it on his Twitter.
When a Lionel Messi impersonator prank-called him for Argentine radio station earlier this month, he had told the pretend Pulga: "I'd swim to Barcelona. After all, I'd only have to cross the Mediterranean."
His dream of playing alongside Messi would appear, at least in the short-term, to be more likely to happen with Argentina than Barcelona. A transfer ban means the La Liga leaders are unable to sign anyone until 2016 and besides acquiring another forward isn't a priority. Not when Luis Enrique has Neymar and Luis Suarez accompanying Messi.
The latest indications are that Dybala's entourage have instead expressed a preference to stay in Italy with Juventus, a club flush from the money they have already earned from the Champions League which could yet rise to €73.2 million upon qualification for the semifinals. They're apparently moving fast and occupying pole position.
Whether the 21-year-old's head has been turned or not by all the speculation, his performances have faded a little of late. Dybala hasn't scored and nor have Palermo in four games. He has gone 424 minutes without a goal. The last one came in a 2-1 defeat to Lazio in Rome.
His opponents that afternoon can lay claim to as promising a talent and one that at the moment is more in-form. For in the month before Christmas, a star was born. It shot through the night and is shining so bright as to even obscure Dybala's brilliance.
Felipe Anderson's glancing header against Verona at the weekend marked the ninth time he has found the back of the net in Serie A this season. "Sempre lui!" proclaimed Sky Italia's commentator. "It's always him!" And it set Lazio on course for a sixth straight win, a feat they haven't achieved in the league in almost eight years.
They have hit 14 goals in that run and young Felipao has been involved in no fewer than six of them. In gambling and basketball, there's a phenomenon known as the hot hand to describe when a player is on fire. In calcio, it's called the "piede caldo," the hot foot, and Anderson has had it since the beginning of December. Up until then he had started and finished only one game this season. His appearances from kickoff were limited to just three and his playing time averaged 40 minutes.
As had been the case with Dybala, particularly during his 405-day goal drought which lasted deep into the season when Palermo were in Serie B, judgement was rushed on Anderson, another "fenomeno" born in 1993. He was considered a flop. Anderson had needed time to adapt after joining for €8 million from Brazil's Santos the previous summer.
He touched down with quite the reputation. Alexandre Macia, a coach of their youth team, had insisted he was potentially better than another recent graduate of their academy, Neymar. Expectations were high and he didn't meet them. "It was very difficult at first," Anderson confessed to O Globo, "because I arrived with an ankle injury. The football was quicker and I was still recovering
my full fitness.Tactically, it was also hard. In Italy they're strict on this. I think this is what Brazilians suffer most when they go to Europe."
There was a language barrier to breach and a culture shock to absorb too. "I didn't speak much Italian," Anderson admitted. "I did a few courses so I knew a bit before I got there but you have to be there to learn. When I went out for lunch or dinner on my own it was very complicated to order. I spent two months eating the same thing. I always asked for spaghetti carbonara and a fizzy drink. Then I had to diet to lose the weight I gained."
Once settled, integrated and in peak condition, Anderson seized his opportunity, which finally came when Antonio Candreva, then the leading assist-maker in Serie A, hobbled off clutching his thigh in Lazio's stalemate with Chievo in late November. The Italy international missed six weeks, and in the meantime Anderson blossomed.
He delivered the "coup de grace" to Varese in the Coppa Italia, then set up captain Stefano Mauri for the equaliser and scored the clincher against Parma at the Tardini to arrest Lazio's slide after three league games without a win. Mauri got served twice more in the 3-0 dismantling of Atalanta. Next, Inter did
well to pick themselves up off the canvas after Anderson connected with a one-two at San Siro.
That performance on one of world football's great stages, "la Scala del Calcio," was some show. The first touch for his opener, which simultaneously drew the sting out of Stefan Radu's cross, took Inter captain Andrea Ranocchia out of the game and had enough backspin to bring the ball back into his path was world class. His second, an exquisitely executed volley, drew comparisons with Zinedine Zidane's against Bayer Leverkusen in 2002. "It was only a matter of time before he starting doing the exceptional things he does in training in competitive matches," Marco Parolo said.
The winter break didn't interrupt Anderson's stride. Parolo swept in one of his pull-backs against Sampdoria in their first game back after the New Year, and Anderson was merciless with them. Two minutes later he doubled Lazio's lead with a zinger from outside the area. Asked to explain his side's unexpected 3-0 defeat, only their second of the season in the league, Samp coach Sinisa Mihajlovic had no doubt. "Felipe Anderson played like Cristiano Ronaldo."
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