“The graveyard of football is full of ‘favourites’,” warned Botafogo manager Renato Paiva in what has proven to be this summer’s coldest line in sweltering United States heat. Gritty draws achieved by Palmeiras against Porto and Fluminense against Borussia Dortmund at the Club World Cup were enough to start a conversation. But the underdog heroics of Brazil’s other two clubs have shaken up how we see club football across the world.
For the first time since Corinthians shocked Chelsea in Yokohama in 2012, when some Brazilian fans sold their homes and vehicles to make the trip, the reigning Copa Libertadores champions have beaten the Champions League winners. Igor Jesus, who has been strongly linked to Nottingham Forest, scored the only goal of the game as Botafogo beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, a special setting for Brazilians given it is where they won the World Cup in 1994 and honoured the recently deceased Ayrton Senna.
Not to be outdone by their Rio rivals, Flamengo erased some of the hurt of losing to Liverpool in 2019 – when the Brazil forward Roberto Firmino scored the winner – by beating Chelsea 3-1 to guarantee a place in the knockouts. It was also the first time a Brazilian club has beaten a European side by two goals since Vasco da Gama embarrassed Manchester United in 2000.
“It was a remarkable victory, against a team that needs no introduction,” said Flamengo No 7 Luiz Araújo after the win against Chelsea. “It has a special flavour not only because of the size of the opponent, but also because of all our preparation and dedication up until now. We deserved the result and we want more.
Old heads will be quick to remind us that this is the usual order being restored. Throughout the 20th century, Brazilian sides regularly got the better of those from the Old Continent. Pelé scored five goals as Santos beat Benfica 8-4 over two legs in the 1962 Intercontinental Cup final; he scored four in the final the following year as Santos saw off the mighty Milan. In 1981, Flamengo thrashed Liverpool in the final; and in the 1990s São Paulo beat Barcelona’s “Dream Team” in 1992 and then dispatched the great Milan team of the era the following year.
There were valid arguments for the Brasileirão being the strongest domestic league in the world. At the Club World Championship in 2000 – a similar tournament to the one in the United States this year – the best European sides visited Brazil and were soundly beaten. Manchester United, fresh off winning the treble, and Real Madrid did not qualify from their group. Two Brazilian clubs – Corinthians and Vasco da Gama – contested the final.
Despite the odd recent victory for Brazilian clubs – such as São Paulo beating Liverpool in 2005, Internacional overcoming Barcelona in 2006, and Corinthians winning against Chelsea in 2012 – the tide has turned against them in this century. A generation ago, when Brazilian clubs were under less pressure to sell their stars, players such as Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos did not move across the Atlantic until they were well into their 20s, keeping the league strong. Now, however, the clubs are financially mismanaged and have to sell their best talents for a relative pittance when they are teenagers. On top of that, TV rights money in Europe and the financial doping of state-run clubs provided further disparity.
At the Club World Cup, however, matters are being decided between the white lines and away from the boardroom. “Football is played on the pitch, 11 against 11,” says Araújo. “We have great teams in Brazil who are all capable of facing any team in the world. Flamengo always goes on the pitch to win, regardless of who is on the other side.”
The facts don’t lie. The four Brazilian teams are unbeaten in the tournament and top of their groups, having scored 14 goals and conceding just four. “The victories show the strength of Brazilian football,” says Fluminense manager Renato Gaúcho, who dismisses the argument that European sides are tired after a long season. “If a Brazilian club loses, they say: ‘Ah, Brazilian football can’t measure up to European football’. If they win, they say: ‘Ah, European football is coming back from holiday’. That doesn’t exist in football!”
He points out that the teams usually meet at the end of the calendar year, when Brazilian clubs are coming off an even more exhausting season. “When European football catches Brazilian clubs having played between 70 and 80 games a year, nobody makes that excuse. Nobody says: ‘Ah, the Brazilian team is tired’. When the European team crushes them, then they say: ‘Ah, we really can’t measure up to them.’ Brazilian football has been having a great Mundial, overcoming powerful opponents and achieving results. This shows that money alone does not always win matches.
“Yes, there is no way to compete with the Europeans in terms of finances; they can sign great players and form very strong teams, but football is decided on the field. And, on the field, today, Brazilian football and the Brazilian people have to be very proud of what Brazilian clubs have been doing. When many people didn’t believe this would happen, it is happening.”
Palmeiras boss Abel Ferreira has also balked at the idea that European clubs are tired, saying the number of games “excuse” is “a lie” – and something that Brazilian clubs have had to cope with in the past. “When we go to the Mundial, we’re also at the end of the season. Porto has 50 games; Palmeiras has 36 already. And when we go to play in a Mundial, we’ll have more than 70 games. These are excuses.”
To their credit, Luis Enrique and Enzo Maresca did not make excuses and were very gracious in defeat. But not everyone has been as generous. Marc Cucurella said Chelsea struggled in the heat and the Borussia Dortmund substitutes ridiculously sat inside the dressing room for the first half against Mamelodi Sundowns when the temperature was just 30.5C.
Mauro Cezar, a hugely popular pundit in Brazil, says the European teams showed “a certain arrogance” in not giving the tournament due respect. “European teams entered this tournament without taking it as seriously as those from other continents. Of course, the heat is a hindrance for them, as is the fact that it’s the end of the season. But if they have more money, better players and better coaches, they should compensate for these negative points by playing the minimum to overcome opponents who did not cause much concern, at least until the competition began.
“These arguments are valid, but they do not justify Paris Saint-Germain being unable to score a goal against Botafogo and barely threatening; Monterey drawing with Inter; Borussia Dortmund almost losing to Fluminense and conceding three goals to a South African team; Porto being dominated by Palmeiras; and Flamengo crushing Chelsea for practically the entire time. Claiming that the competition is not important does not justify this sequence of results against teams with much lower investment. Not facing this reality is yet another sign of arrogance.”
Araújo, who saw the Chelsea players close up on the field, pushes back on the idea that they do not care about the tournament. “No one goes on the field to lose; everyone wants to win,” says the Botofogo forward. “The game against Chelsea was very competitive. Everyone defends their family, their shirt and the fans who are in the stands cheering them on.”
The Flamengo manager Filipe Luís, who spent most of his playing career in Europe at Atlético Madrid, Chelsea and Deportivo, believes that Brazilian clubs have rebalanced the scales at the tournament but cannot compete with the very best “eight or 10 clubs” from Europe. “Apart from this elite, Brazilians are at the same level as the second European tier because of how we compete, how we understand the game, how we adapt to the climatic and field conditions. This elite is superior to us, but on the field anyone can win.”
As Cezar points out, the “big difference between Europe and South America is money”, with Chelsea alone investing €1.5bn in their squad. “This amount is equivalent to the combined debts of several Brazilian clubs; the disproportion is enormous. Since the European leagues have more global visibility and money, they naturally attract the best coaches and players. Consequently, they are more tactically, technically and even physically developed in some cases. However, when a Brazilian club, like Flamengo, which defeated Chelsea with authority, organises itself financially, with good players within the South American reality, and has a coach with a modern mentality, although very young and without much experience, the result is what we saw in Philadelphia.”
We are only at the group stage of the Club World Cup but, whether it’s merely a Fifa cash grab or a holiday camp for the European teams, the tournament has served an unexpected purpose for Brazil. It has allowed Brazilians to take pride in the idea that not everything is always better over the water.
This is an article by Tom Sanderson and Josué Seixas
