Brazilian

It took three months of hard work to change Amorim’s mind.

On 6 March 2025, he started the first leg of the Europa League last-16 draw with Real Sociedad. He kept his place for the league game against Arsenal and, from that point, has started every major game United have played.

“Football changes. Life changes,” Casemiro said in his recent interview with former United captain Ferdinand.

“For me, [with] the best players in the world, it’s about the mentality. I might not play good – I’m not a robot and I know. But the next [game], I give everything on the pitch. The mentality is next, next, next.”

It is a mentality that has brought Casemiro back into the Brazil squad – he is expected to be Carlo Ancelotti’s captain at this summer’s tournament.

This season, the 34-year-old’s influence has noticeably increased.

Of all the players in Michael Carrick’s squad, it is widely accepted if Casemiro had been injured in February, after the transfer deadline had closed, his absence would have been the hardest to cover in the ultimately successful quest for Champions League qualification.

“He has been an absolute pleasure to work with,” Carrick says in his programme notes for the Forest game.

“He will always have a special connection with Manchester United.”

Carrick has felt the early clarity around Casemiro’s exit – announced on 22 January, days after the manager’s own return as Amorim’s temporary replacement – has been beneficial for player and club.

Aside from the mentality aspect, the player’s influence at Old Trafford should extend far longer than his physical presence.

When Casemiro arrived from Real Madrid in 2022 in a deal worth up to £70m, Kobbie Mainoo, then aged 17, felt he would learn huge amounts from one of the most decorated players in the game.

Amid the Brazilian’s collapse in form, Mainoo ended up battling for a start with Casemiro, which wasn’t a situation he envisaged.

The clear by-product of Amorim’s exit has been the partnership between the pair, who have played alongside each other in 13 of Carrick’s 15 matches in charge – a one-match absence for both players because of minor injuries the only reason it was not 15 out of 15.

“Kobbie is my friend,” Casemiro explained earlier this month in a separate interview with the respected United We Stand fanzine.

“I have an excellent relationship with him. We are always joking – in English because he doesn’t speak Portuguese.

“He is a complete player, the present and the future of Manchester.

“Why? Because he has already taught us that he can play to a high level for his club and country. The one thing he needs to improve is to play more with the ball, to touch the ball more, because he has so much quality.

“Then it’s the decision-making which comes with experience. That improves with age.”

May 14 (UPI) — Just five months before Brazil’s October elections, the presidential campaign of right-wing Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro has become entangled in what authorities describe as the country’s largest recent banking fraud case.

According to reports published by Intercept Brasil, Bolsonaro negotiated a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal to finance a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, with a banker now jailed on suspicion of leading a criminal organization involved in financial fraud.

The Brazilian news outlet released audio recordings and messages allegedly tied to negotiations between the senator and Daniel Vorcaro, owner of the collapsed Banco Master. Vorcaro is being held in pretrial detention as part of a financial and political scandal that has expanded to include Brazilian politicians and judges.

The scandal erupted after Brazil’s Federal Police intercepted Vorcaro’s phone messages, which reportedly reveal a close relationship between the two men — with Flávio Bolsonaro referring to the banker as “brother.”

In the conversations, Bolsonaro allegedly pressured Vorcaro to release payment for a sponsorship worth 134 million reais, or about $26 million, according to Brazilian outlet G1 Globo. The funds were intended for the Hollywood production of The Dark Horse, a biographical film aimed at improving Jair Bolsonaro’s public image.

In one audio recording, Flávio Bolsonaro discussed the urgency of the payments and the importance of the film project, according to Agência Brasil.

“Even though you gave us the freedom to hold you accountable, I feel uncomfortable having to ask,” the senator said in the recording. “We are at a crucial point in the movie’s production, and because many payments are still pending, everyone is tense, and I worry this could have the opposite effect from what we expected for the film.”

Authorities say the controversy extends beyond the size of the sponsorship and centers on the source of the money. Brazil’s Central Bank liquidated Banco Master after discovering an accounting shortfall estimated at between $7.6 billion and $10 billion.

Investigators allege the bank operated a scheme involving fraudulent securities sales and the theft of pension savings belonging to public-sector workers. Brazilian media reported that while retirees lost savings, members of the banker’s family purchased luxury homes in Miami and private aircraft.

Hours before the audio recordings became public, Flávio Bolsonaro denied having a business relationship with Vorcaro and dismissed the allegations as false during television interviews.

After the recordings surfaced and his voice allegedly could be heard in the conversations, the senator acknowledged contact with the banker, but argued the deal involved legitimate private sponsorship.

Bolsonaro later wrote on X that he was the victim of political persecution and said the leaked chats only showed a lawful business negotiation.

“It was a son seeking private sponsorship for a private film about his father. Zero public money,” the senator wrote, insisting he did not know the banker’s funds allegedly originated from purported fraud.

The market reaction was immediate. After publication of the recordings, the São Paulo stock exchange fell nearly 2% and the Brazilian real weakened against the U.S. dollar, reflecting investor concerns over political instability.

Recent polls show Flávio Bolsonaro statistically tied with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a potential runoff election.

Government allies have launched an offensive to capitalize on the scandal, demanding Bolsonaro’s removal from office through ethics proceedings in the Senate. According to Gazeta do Povo, lawmakers are seeking to suspend his political rights for eight years.

Those aligned with Lula also are pushing to create a congressional investigative committee into Banco Master. The proposed inquiry would seek access to Bolsonaro’s banking and tax records to trace the millions of reais allegedly negotiated in the sponsorship deal.

Left-wing parties argue the movie financing arrangement served as a front for money laundering and illicit enrichment, linking the failed bank’s expansion to political protection networks allegedly built during Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.

Published on
12/05/2026 – 19:47 GMT+2

An EU committee made up of experts from member states voted on Tuesday to ban imports of Brazilian meat starting 3 September due to the use of antimicrobials to stimulate animal growth.

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The decision to remove Brazil from the list of countries that comply with EU food safety standards comes as the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement between the EU and Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay provisionally entered into force on 1 May.

The deal, which liberalises trade of agri-product between both sides of the Atlantic, remains fiercely opposed by EU farmers, who fear that different production standards on both sides of the Atlantic will create unfair competition from Latin American imports.

“The fact that the Union is able to enforce the rules is essential for trust, a level playing field, and good relations with our trading partners,” an EU diplomat told Euronews.

An official with knowledge of the file said that the vote was unanimous and makes Brazil the first country removed from the list of states complying with EU restrictions on antimicrobial use in animals.

The list of third countries which comply with EU requirements, and therefore can export food-producing animals to the EU, will be formally adopted in the coming days.

The European Commission has consistently said EU food safety rules would continue to apply to agricultural products imported from Latin America after the deal enters into force.

Commission’s spokesperson Eva Hrncirova confirmed to Euronews that from 3 September Brazil will no longer be able export to the EU commodities such as bovine, equine, poultry, eggs, aquaculture, honey and casings.

“Trade agreements do not change our rules,” Hrncirova said, adding: “The Commission establishes the Union’s mandatory sanitary and phytosanitary standards, and both our farmers and exporters from third countries have to comply with them.”

Brussels has also negotiated safeguards aimed at protecting EU farmers, including mechanisms to monitor potential market disruption from a surge in imports from Mercosur countries. Quotas were also introduced for sensitive products, including poultry and meat.

Once compliance with the safety rules is demonstrated by Brazil, the EU will be able to resume the imports, and Brazil will be able to benefit from the same tariff relief as the other Mercosur countries.