- Fábio, 45, Thiago Silva, 42, and Hulk, 40, are starters for Marcão's Fluminense, which eliminated Platense and will face Palmeiras in the CONMEBOL Libertadores semifinals.
- Germán Cano, 38, and Ganso and Samuel Xavier, both 36, round out a squad their coach defends with one line: "They are great players who have already been through everything."
On September 15, in Vicente López, Fluminense went 45 minutes without a shot on goal, was losing 2-0 on the night with the tie level at 2-2, and had on the field a 45-year-old goalkeeper, a 41-year-old center back and a 40-year-old striker. Any reading of the game could have concluded that everything had turned uphill for the Rio side. The match ended 2-1 to Platense, the 'Flu' went through 3-2 on aggregate thanks to a goal by Agustín Canobbio, assisted by Hulk, and five days later Marcão explained why the deficit against the 'Calamar' did not worry him: "The first half was completely adverse. If it were another team, it wouldn't have managed to get back into the game. They are great players who have already been through all of this. You have Paulo (Ganso), Thiago, Fábio and Hulk. Players who have been through everything in soccer."
What would be an anomaly at other clubs is a method at Fluminense. Fábio was born on September 30, 1980, and will turn 46 two weeks after helping his team book its place in the semifinals. Thiago Silva was born on September 22, 1984, and turned 42 on September 22. The center back returned to the club for a second time in June this year, after six months at Porto. Hulk was born on July 25, 1986, arrived in May at 39 and, now 40, has become one of the leading scorers of the Marcão era. Behind them come Germán Cano, 38; Paulo Henrique Ganso and Samuel Xavier, 36; Renê, 34; and Alisson, 33.
It is not just an anecdote. In the first leg against Platense, on September 8 at the Maracanã, Marcão's starting eleven, with Fábio; Guga, Thiago Silva, Millán and Renê; Martinelli, Nonato and Ganso; Serna, Soteldo and Hulk, averaged 33 years and 124 days, a figure that portrays a team built on experience: Fluminense accumulates history. And history pays off. In the quarterfinal tie, Hulk was involved in all three of the team's goals, Fábio held the second leg together until the end, and Thiago Silva, the captain, organized a defense that, with him on the field as its standard-bearer under the new coach — Marcão took over in August, after Luis Zubeldía's departure —, had started with two clean sheets in four matches.
Each of the three has his own reason for being where he is. Fábio is the player with the most matches in the history of professional soccer: he passed Peter Shilton on August 19, 2025, when he reached 1,391 against América de Cali, and today he is past 1,440 between União Bandeirante, Athletico Paranaense, Vasco, Cruzeiro and Fluminense. In April, in La Guaira, he became the oldest player ever to appear in a CONMEBOL Libertadores match, at 45 years and 189 days, and in May he overtook Éver Hugo Almeida as the player with the most appearances in the competition: he is now at 120. In this year's Round of 16 he saved two penalties in the shootout against Independiente Rivadavia. His contract runs through the end of 2027, when he will be 47.
Thiago Silva plays, by his own account, with his head. "I don't need to run as much to cut out a ball or provide cover. Experience helps me in that sense," he told O Globo a few days ago, and he was candid about how he manages his body: "In some training sessions I don't even get to the end. I tell Marcão: 'For me, today is enough, I'm satisfied.'" He returned on June 22 on a contract through the end of the season, with 212 matches and 19 goals for the club in his two previous spells (2006-2008 and 2024-2025). Before thinking about a possible retirement, he has a semifinal against Palmeiras in pursuit of the club's second Gloria Eterna after the 2023 title.
"My dream is to win the (CONMEBOL) Libertadores," were among Hulk's first words as a Fluminense signing last May. Since Marcão took charge on August 15, he has scored six goals and provided three assists in eight matches. In the quarterfinal tie against Platense, the 'Flu' scored three goals and he was involved in all of them. He set up Nonato at the Maracanã, scored the second that night and, in the return leg in Vicente López, when the Rio side had lost its lead, he led the counterattack that ended in Agustín Canobbio's goal. Less than five months after arriving on a free transfer, the striker is one of the reasons the 'Tricolor' can dream.
Ganso, who reached 300 matches for the 'Flu' in February, has started the last three games in the Copa. The midfielder's contract runs through December 31, and he addressed the subject like someone who has seen it all, without giving any hint about his future: "I'm free on the market, I have a contract until the end of the year. We'll keep playing until the end of the year. It's important for us to stay strong in the Brasileirão, and the (CONMEBOL) Libertadores is a dream that is also close."
Germán Cano and Samuel Xavier complete the picture from a different place: that of the man who has already given everything and remains available. Cano, 38, arrived in early 2022, was the top scorer of the 2023 CONMEBOL Libertadores with 13 goals, the best mark in a single edition this century, and with 17 goals is Fluminense's all-time leading scorer in the competition; today, with a contract through December and just one goal in 15 matches this year, he had been Hulk's first backup until a muscle injury suffered in the first leg against Platense sidelined him for roughly eight weeks.
Samuel Xavier, 36, has been at the club since 2021, renewed in January through December 2027 with more than 240 matches in the tricolor shirt, and lost his starting spot at right back this year to Guga, who explained it respectfully: "I always had great respect for Samuel Xavier's place in the starting lineup, because he's a guy who is an example within the group." A dislocated left shoulder, on August 22 against Remo, kept him out for three weeks; he was available again just in time for the quarterfinal second leg against Platense.
Fluminense's dream has a date. The first leg against Palmeiras will be on October 14 at the Maracanã and the return leg on October 21 in São Paulo, against an opponent that has won two Libertadores titles this decade and is reaching its sixth semifinal in seven years. Fluminense won the title in 2023 with Fábio as the oldest goalkeeper ever to lift the Copa, and with Samuel Xavier, Cano and Ganso as protagonists. Three years later, the same names, more experienced, are once again two matches from the final. At the Maracanã, nobody reads it as a coincidence. They read it the way Marcão does: players who have been through everything, and who for that reason don't panic when a match looks lost.
