RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Head coach of the Atletico-MG soccer team, Dorival Junior, experimented with alternative methods of motivating his star striker Diego Tardelli on Saturday.

On the eve of their classic against rival and leader of the Brazilian Championship, Cruzeiro, the coach wrote an emotional letter to the athlete' s family.

Tardelli is a former member of the Brazilian national soccer team, but has recently fallen into a slump. Visibly frustrated, Dorival Junior knows that a motivated Tardelli is key to the team' s success and avoidance of falling into the second division of the 2011 Brazilian Championship.

Tardelli has not played in Atletico-MG' s last five games due to a muscle strain. His return is highly awaited by the team and its fans.

In order to fully motivate the striker in his return against archrival Cruzeiro, the coach wrote a letter to his family. Full of praise and encouragement, Dorival Junior hopes that the letter will bring the athlete' s family into the picture and motivate even further his performance on Sunday.

Along with Obina, Tardelli leads Atletico-MG with seven goals scored in the Brazilian Championship. The team currently stands in seventeenth place with 31 points.

With only eight rounds of play remaining in the tournament, the team needs to finish in sixteenth place or better to avoid dropping into the second division next year.