Player Focus: Messi's Cousin Biancucchi Steps Up for Vitória

It's not easy growing up in someone else's shadow. Maybe you have a brother who is just stupidly good at piano and drags your whole family along to bi-weekly shows and performs at every social event and generally makes your life a Chopin-heavy hell. It could be your younger sister who, without even having to revise, aces every test and is already seen as a shoo-in for a scholarship at Oxford or Cambridge or Harvard, despite only being three years old.

Maxi Biancucchi knows the story. He grew up in Rosario, Argentina, and soon established himself as a decent little football player, progressing through the youth system at San Lorenzo. He should, by rights, have been the biggest star in his family – the kid doing keep-ups at weddings and anniversaries and even the odd funeral (the Biancucchis have strange customs*).

But there was just one problem. Maxi had a cousin who was better at football than he was. Not just a little bit better, either. A lot better. His name? Lionel Messi.

While Leo headed to Europe to establish himself as the best player in the world, Maxi followed the path less trodden. Most of his career has been spent in Paraguay, where he carved out a niche as a goalscorer for hire, rarely staying at any one club for more than a year.

In 2007 he moved Flamengo, a club whose PR department clearly saw the modest value of being associated with a player associated with Leo Messi. He won fans over with some sparky performances and a goal in the clássico against Fluminense, but slowly faded from view and ended up moving to Mexican side Cruz Azul.

That seemed to be the end of Biancucchi's Brazilian adventure. But earlier this year – and after another sojourn in Paraguay – Biancucchi returned to Brazil, this time with the altogether more modest Vitória.

The Salvador club, like the player himself, had been out of the limelight for a couple of years. They were relegated to Série B in 2010 and replaced in the top flight by city rivals Bahia, who then had the cheek to consolidate local bragging rights with two consecutive state championship titles. As Vitória's best players shuffled quietly through the exit door, the misery was compounded when an immediate return to Série A slipped through their fingers in 2011.

But from that nadir, the Leão have sprung back impressively. Promoted in 2012 (take that, difficult second season!), they won back their Campeonato Baiano crown in the early months of this year, humiliating Bahia in a final that finished 8-4 (!) on aggregate.

They have carried that form over into the start of the Brasileirão season, winning two of their opening three games. The fixtures weren't easy, either: home games against traditional powerhouses Internacional and Vasco sandwiched a tricky-looking trip to Recife to face Náutico.

Key in their early-season form has been Biancucchi. With three goals to his name, he is Série A's leading scorer after three rodadas, earning himself a place in WhoScored's Best XI in the process.

Yet Biancucchi is no out-and-out number nine. Diminutive like his cousin, he tends to roam around his more physically imposing strike partner Dinei, who is the fixed point of the Vitória attack.

In truth, the Argentine is involved in the play fairly infrequently: he has averaged just two shots a game – fewer than 46 players whom he has outscored. Of all the players to have netted and made at least two appearances, only four have averaged fewer touches per goal than Biancucchi's 31.3. But when a chance does fall to the Argentine he rarely wastes it, as backed up by his 50% conversion rate and 66.7% shot accuracy.

Is his early-season success an anomaly, then? Perhaps, but it's not just him; Vitória as a team seem to be defying the statistics early on. Caio Júnior's side have the second-lowest average pass success rate in the division, make the fewest tackles per game and take the joint-fewest shots. Only one team (Bahia) has a lower average possession figure than their 42.5%.

What this suggests is that Vitória, with confidence high after their state championship form, have been punching slightly above their weight thus far. There is no harm in this, of course; fans will be delighted to see their side in the upper echelons of the table for a few weeks, even if a mid-table finish is more likely.

One man will be enjoying his moment in the sun, at any rate. With the European season finally over, Maxi Biancucchi is the star of his family again. Until August, at least.

*Probably