South American football has officially surrendered to Botafogo. This Saturday (30), Glorioso achieved its greatest achievement in 120 years of history. Even though midfielder Gregore was sent off less than a minute into the game, the Rio team beat Atlético-MG 3-1, at the Monumental de Nuñez Stadium, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, guaranteeing the unprecedented Libertadores title.
The achievement marks the end of a long drought of titles beyond the Rio or regional scope. The last major trophy raised by Botafogo was the 1995 Brazilian Championship, led by top scorer Túlio Maravilha. Since then, Alvinegro has won five State Championships (1997, 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2018) and a Rio São-Paulo Tournament in 1998, but accumulated three relegations to Série B in less than 20 years.
The comeback
The Libertadores is the first title since the club’s Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF) was bought by English businessman John Textor. Last year, Botafogo was close to winning the Brasileirão, with a 13 point advantage over second place at the end of the first round, but had a huge drop in production in the final half of the competition. After 11 games without winning and unbelievable upsets suffered against Palmeiras and Grêmio, the team finished the championship in fifth place.
The defeat forced Botafogo to compete in the preliminary phase of this year’s Libertadores, passing through Aurora, from Bolivia, and Red Bull Bragantino to reach the group stage. Despite the bad start, with defeats to Junior Barranquilla, from Colombia, and LDU, from Ecuador, Glorioso recorded three consecutive victories and qualified for the knockout stage where they beat Palmeiras, São Paulo (both in dramatic fashion) and Penãrol, from Uruguay. , the latter winning 5-0 at the Nilton Santos Stadium, in Rio de Janeiro.
The post-2023 comeback is complete, but it could become even more glorious. Botafogo leads the Brasileirão with 73 points, three more than Palmeiras, with two rounds remaining until the end of the competition – Internacional and Fortaleza, with 65 points and three games to go, can still catch up to Alvinegro.
Gone, World
As a bonus, Botafogo was accredited for two International Football Federation (Fifa) competitions. The first is the Intercontinental Cup, which replaces the Club World Cup on the calendar. On December 11th, in Doha, Qatar, Glorioso will face Pachuca, from Mexico, winner of Concacaf (the entity responsible for the sport in the Caribbean and North and Central America). Whoever passes will face Al-Ahly, from Egypt, the African champion, in the semi-final. The final will be against Real Madrid, from Spain, winner of the European Champions League.
Between June 15th and July 13th, the challenge will be the new FIFA World Cup, in the United States. The tournament will bring together 32 clubs, six from South America. Four of them are the Brazilian champions of the last editions of the Libertadores. In addition to Botafogo, there will be Palmeiras (2021), Flamengo (2022) and Fluminense (2023). Argentines Boca Juniors and River Plate complete the South American representatives.
What now, Rooster?
Atlético-MG, in turn, was defeated again in a 2024 final, after losing the Copa do Brasil to Flamengo. Without winning in 11 matches, seven of which were in the Brasileirão, Galo fell in the national championship table and appears in tenth place, with 44 points, three behind Bahia, eighth place and which, with Botafogo’s title, inherited a place in the preliminary phase of the next Libertadores. It’s up to the miners to look for a new chance to try for bi in 2025.
One less, two more
Thirty-three seconds. Ball dispute in the central circle between Gregore, from Botafogo, and Fausto Vera, from Atlético-MG. The Glorioso’s steering wheel hits the Argentine’s head, which bleeds. Referee Facundo Tello has no doubts: red card. With less than a minute into the game, the Cariocas were already one man down in the most anticipated match of the season.
The expectation was both of pressure from Atletica, asserting numerical superiority on the field, and of some change on the part of Botafogo, to contain the opponent’s attacks, reinforcing the midfield or defensive system with the departure of an attacker. Neither. Galo stood in the offensive field, but was only scared with shots from the edge of the area by striker Hulk, saved by goalkeeper John.
With just 22% possession of the ball, 79 passes exchanged and one less player, Botafogo were lethal. In the 34th minute, he ventured into attack for the first time. Following the exchange of passes, midfielder Thiago Almada opened the ball to striker Luiz Henrique, who escaped marking on the left by invading the area and rolled the ball for midfielder Marlon Freitas to shoot. The hit exploded on defender Júnior Alonso and fell to Luiz Henrique, who sent it into the net.
Botafogo knew how to take advantage of Atlético-MG’s instability. At 41, in the Cariocas’ second attack, Everson and Guilherme Arana did not understand each other when marking and Luiz Henrique anticipated the Galo full-back. The goalkeeper then brought down the Glorioso striker at the edge of the area. With the help of the video referee (VAR), Facundo Tello gave a penalty, which full-back Alex Telles took and converted.
Fogão holds on and celebrates
For the final stage, Gabriel Milito immediately made three changes, with the addition of full-back Mariano, midfielder Bernard and striker Eduardo Vargas in place of defender Lyanco and midfielders Gustavo Scarpa and Fausto Vera. Within a minute, the exchanges had already yielded results. In Galo’s first attack, a corner. Hulk charged into the area and Vargas, free, without needing to jump, sent a header into John’s corner, scoring a goal for Atlético-MG. At eight, the miners complained about a penalty from Marlon Freitas on Deyverson, which would not have been scored.
The shouts of “I believe!”, sung by the Atlético fans during the 2013 Libertadores title campaign, filled the Monumental. Noticing the opponent’s growth, Arthur Jorge responded to Milito’s changes, sending midfielder Danilo Barbosa to the field in place of midfielder Jefferson Savarino and full-back Marçal in place of Alex Telles – who already had a yellow card.
With Hulk and Mariano dictating the pace, Atlético-MG did not leave the offensive field, forcing Botafogo’s front players, such as Luiz Henrique and Almada, to reinforce the defensive system, finding it difficult to counterattack. Arthur Jorge then replaced the duo with Júnior Santos and Matheus Martins. In response, Milito gave new energy to the attacking command, with Alan Kardec replacing Deyverson.
Galo intensified the pressure in the final moments. At 41, Mariano launched Vargas, who anticipated the marking in the middle and deflected it over the crossbar, with great danger. The Chilean had another great chance in the next move, following a bad ball from defender Adryelson that left him in front of John, but he made a mistake in his attempt to cover up the goalkeeper.
Missed opportunities were missed. In the 52nd minute, Júnior Santos made a beautiful move on the right and tried to cross low to Matheus Martins. Midfielder Alan Franco even made the cut, but Júnior Santos himself scored the goal, scoring his tenth goal in the Libertadores, ending the competition as top scorer. The title goal.
