Nottingham Forest midfielder Cafu took the opportunity to visit one of his old clubs during the international break.
With the Reds given some time off amid the two-week hiatus from Championship action, the Portuguese has headed to his homeland. And he called in on an open day at former team Vitoria.
Cafu had a spell at the club earlier in his career. There is also quite the Forest connection, with ex-Reds Tiago Silva and Alfa Semedo in the squad, while defender Tobias Figueiredo came close to a move there in the January transfer window.
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Cafu and Silva just missed each other at the City Ground. The former arrived just as the latter left in October 2020.
But they were pictured together at Vitoria’s open day. Both posted the image on their Instagram accounts, with Silva tagging his countryman and captioning the photograph “familia”, alongside a couple of heart emojis.
The training session was open to supporters and hundreds turned up to watch, according to Portuguese website Tempo De Jogo. They wrote: “Among the many supporters present in the stands, the presence of Cafu, a former Vitoria player who currently represents Nottingham Forest, in the second tier of English football, stood out. In addition to watching the training, Cafu was chatting with some colleagues, as well as members of Vitoria SC’s structure.”
Cafu has found regular game time hard to come by at Forest this season. But he has impressed whenever he has been given a chance.
Boss Steve Cooper said of the 29-year-old after the 4-0 thumping of Reading: “He’s a very good technical player, he’s athletic and he’s powerful. He handles the ball really well, and he has good experience.
“He hasn’t done anything wrong, it’s just lads who play in his position have been playing well. I wouldn’t say he’s accepted that, because you shouldn’t accept it. I wouldn’t want anyone who’s not in the team accepting the situation, because that’s not the right mentality.
“But he’s got on with it and said to himself, ‘when I’m called on, I’ll be ready’. And he was.
“He cares. He cares about the club and he cares about the team. And he’s a winner. And he likes to celebrate when we score!
“He’s good in the dressing room before games as well, he’s shouting and getting the boys going. He’s enthusiastic and he’ll encourage. He’s been good.”
