Roberto Firmino might have left Liverpool over a year ago, but he still remains a cult hero among the fans.
That is mostly because of the reputation he built up over his eight-year stint at Anfield, often sacrificing for the betterment of Mo Salah or Sadio Mane and being the ultimate team player.
Firmino played a key role in helping the Reds win both the Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles under Jurgen Klopp and scored over 100 goals for Liverpool too.
Firmino might not be the more attractive footballer, but he has some very distinct facial features – including his shiny white teeth. And as it turns out, even the former Liverpool man might have a footballing doppelganger.
Ferencvaros forward Matheus Saldanha has now gone viral on social media after some Liverpool fans were able to identify how similar he looks to their former forward.
Saldanha only joined Ferencvaros earlier in the 2024 summer transfer window. But he’s gained prominence for scoring six goals after only four appearances for the Greek club this season.
In fact, the Brazilian is averaging a goal every 16 minutes for his new club. He scored a hattrick in his side’s 3-0 win over Pukas AFC recently, and his ‘hattrick celebration’ picture has gone viral.
Fans can’t believe just how uncanny the resemblance between Saldanha and Firmino is.
The Ferencvaros forward just seems to have a puffier facial structure compared to the ex-Liverpool forward.
Apart from that, Saldanha has eerily similar facial features to Firmino – including a similar jawline, teeth, eyes, nose and even a similar shape to their lips.
What can probably help differentiate the two Brazilian forwards is probably their hairstyle.
Saldanha has opted to bleach his hair blonde and fading out the sides of his hairline, but that is actually a hairstyle Firmino used to pull off in his Liverpool days too.
Is Saldanha Related To Firmino?
A lot of Liverpool fans want their club to make a move for this ‘Firmino 2.0’ and are amazed by how much he resembles their club legend.
I’ve never suggested us signing a player purely based on how they look before but we might have to investigate this fella at the least https://t.co/HknrOhCPGY
Even though both Saldanha and Firmino are Brazilian footballers, they have never really interacted with each other.
The 25-year-old is yet to really make a comment on how similar he looks to the ex-Liverpool forward and about fans raving on about that.
For those wondering, there is no proof that Saldanha and Firmino are even related to each other in any way or form.
Firmino is almost eight years older than Saldanha and he grew up in the neighborhood of Maceio in Alagoas.
Roberto actually had a really difficult upbringing as he came from a poor family that consisted of his father being a fruit vendor and his mother being the housewife.
Firmino only has a sister as his only other direct sibling in his family.
Saldanha, meanwhile, was born in 1999 in the city of Uberaba in the Brazilian highlands and lived out his youth years in that region itself.
He had played in Santos’ youth academy but failed to make it big amongst the competition in the major Brazilian club.
Unlike Firmino, Saldanha is yet to get a major breakthrough for a prominent European club.
After making his professional debut for Brazilian side Bahia, he’s played for Japanese side JEF United Chiba, Chinese club Chengdu Rongcheng, Azerbaijan Premier League side Neftçi before getting a move to Partizan Belgrade in 2023.
But his heroics for Ferencvaros since joining the Greek side is clearly turning heads.
As long as the 25-year-old continues his upwards development, perhaps he could also play for a major European club like Firmino and potentially even meet his much popular doppelganger in the future.
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