Romario’s attempt to score the so-called 1,000th goal of his career is causing problems for his club, Vasco da Gama.

Vasco have altered their playing style and match venues in an attempt to help Romario, stuck on 999 goals for the last two games according to the apparently random criteria he uses, reach the milestone at the Maracana stadium, his favourite venue.

But the circus surrounding Romario’s quest — their game against Botafogo a week ago kicked off 20 minutes late because of the number of reporters trying to interview the former Brazil striker on the pitch — appears to have affected the team, who have lost their last three games.

Striker Leandro Amaral said as much after Vasco were dumped out of the Copa Brasil by second division Gama last Wednesday. Romario sat out Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to modest Cabofriense because it was not at the Maracana and then poured more fuel on the fire.

“Of course, responsibility is a problem for some players and if he (Leandro Amaral) says it’s a problem, he should go and play for a smaller club,” said Romario.

Romario, whose count includes goals scored in all sorts of weird and wonderful testimonial and friendly games, could have ended the saga then and there by accepting a report in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant which said he had overlooked a goal scored in a friendly during his PSV Eindhoven days.

Instead, he prefers to try again at the Maracana against Botafogo on Wednesday.

“Circus is the best word to describe this whole story about the goal, which they want to make eternal,” wrote Marcelo Damato, columnist in the sports daily Lance. “One day, we will discover the correct number but it’s already clear that there’s no criteria apart from ‘that’s the way I want it’, which happens to make the next one number 1,000.

Brian Homewood is a Reuters sports correspondent based in Rio de Janeiro