Flamengo: champions of … well, just about everything

Welcome back to the Brazil Sports newsletter! After a historic weekend of football, we look back at the unbelievable Flamengo Copa Libertadores victory. Then, on a somber note, we retell the story of the Chapecoense air disaster, which took place three years ago this week. Plus, all the rest from Brazilian sport. Happy reading! 

Flamengo: champions of… well, just about everything

Champions of South America on Saturday, champions of Brazil on Sunday. It’s hard to imagine a better 48-hour period in the history of Rio de Janeiro club Flamengo, who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Argentinian side River Plate in the Copa Libertadores final, before seeing their rivals slip up in the league, mathematically confirming them as champions of Brazil.

Why it matters. It is hard to properly quantify the size and importance of Flamengo around Brazil. As a result of the popularity of radio and successful nationalist propaganda in the 1940s, Flamengo transcended Rio de Janeiro and became the biggest club in the country, counting their fanbase in the tens of millions.

37 years of hurt. While Flamengo fans had already been waiting ten years without a national championship, the dry spell in the Copa Libertadores was even longer, with their last triumph coming in 1981, when national team legends Zico and Junior were still playing for the club.

The match. The outcome to Saturday’s final was near impenetrable to tactical explanation. In the first half, Flamengo were unrecognizable, playing sloppy, losing their shape, and looking overawed by the occasion. River exploited their hesitancy and took the lead through Santos Borré. The second half was much of the same: Flamengo struggled to access the zip and guile that saw them steamroller all opposition in Brazil this year and instead they looked defeated, out of ideas. 

As the clock marched on, however, River Plate’s defense began to stretch, though no-one could have predicted what was about to happen. Two very late goals from Gabriel Barbosa—who, I think, has now definitively earned his nickname “Gabigol”—and just like that, Flamengo were champions. The game had echoes of the 1999 Champions League final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich, but it’s important to remember just how much of a lost cause Flamengo seemed before the equalizing goal. A truly stunning comeback to a truly stunning finale.

A title a day… Then, on Sunday, as the team paraded around Rio de Janeiro, hailed by throngs of red-and-black Flamengo fans, they were given the news that they had officially become Brazilian champions as well. Thirteen points clear with five games to play, Flamengo only needed second-placed Palmeiras to slip up at home to Grêmio...