Fluminense... team of the future?

Glorious climax: Brazil’s Fluminense players celebrate with the trophy after winning the Copa Libertadores final against Argentina’s Boca Juniors at the Maracana in rio de Janeiro on Nov 4. Fluminense won 2-1. — AP

THE story starts with a message. Everything that has followed and everything that might yet – the glory and the acclaim, the opportunity and the revolution – has unspooled from a simple text. Everyone involved can agree on that. What is not entirely clear, though, is precisely which message was the one that counted.

The official version runs like this. One night in April last year, coach Fernando Diniz sent a message to Mario Bittencourt, the president of Fluminense, one of the traditional giants of Brazilian football.