Cláudio left Santos every day to become Corinthians’ top scorer

Corinthians arrives at Saturday night’s duel (16), against Ceará, without any of its players having scored in the six previous matches. On Sunday, it celebrates the centenary of a man who put 305 balls in the net wearing his shirt.

Cláudio Christóvam de Pinho was born on July 17, 1922, in Santos. From there he never left. Except every day, or nearly so, between 1945 and 1957, a period in which he became the idol of a non-beach blacksmith and the greatest scorer in his history.

Nobody scored as many goals for Corinthians as Cláudio, one of the only ten players to date to be honored in the form of a bust at Parque São Jorge. But to sum up the trajectory of what became known as Manager to numbers is to ignore the essence of the black and white club, more love (and pain) than glory – although there was a lot of glory in the Manager’s time.

“I am a Corinthians fan because of Corinthians and because of Corinthians fans”, he explained, in a statement to the book “Coração Corinthiano” (1992), by Corinthians fan Lourenço Diaféria.

The Santos player was a supporter of Santos, the team in which he started his career. Before arriving at Corinthians, he scored the first goal of Palmeiras with that name, in 1942. At the end of his football career, he still defended São Paulo. But a game from 1955, a 5-5 draw with Vasco, who won 4-1 and then 5-2, helps to explain why Cláudio was really Corinthians.

“I looked up there, the flags, the face of the crowd. It looks like a single face. A single nose, two luminous eyes, a single skin, a single mouth screaming ‘Corinthians!’. The crowd is one thing. , cheers up the other, yells at that one, and the crowd waiting for the miracle”, he described, according to Diaféria. “I didn’t start out as a Corinthians fan. I was then a Corinthians fan. And I never stopped being.”

Santos was left behind, but not Santos. Leaving the city never seemed like a viable alternative. That’s why, when Corinthians signed him, in 1945, he decided to stay at home. Even after becoming well acquainted in the east side of São Paulo, he persisted in commuting, still so common to many of those who work in the capital of São Paulo.

“I was already married to Norma. I lived with my in-laws. I got up early. At 5:20 am, I took the tram that came from Ponta da Praia and stopped at Praça Mauá. I got off, walked a little, on Rua do Comércio took the bus to São Paulo. The trip took two hours. When it rained, it was mud, I came along the old road to Santos”, he recalled.

The path became less lonely, still in 1945, when another historic idol born on the coast, Baltazar, arrived at Corinthians. “We would get off the bus in Santos at Parque Dom Pedro, where we would take a taxi to Rua São Jorge, on the corner of Avenida Celso Garcia. On foot, we would walk the stretch of the avenue to the Tietê River.”

The partnership worked.

Right winger Cláudio turned center forward Baltazar into Cabecinha de Ouro. The crossings were accurate; submissions from above, ditto. “Baltazar was an exceptional player, one of the few headers who looked for the ball. I already knew where he liked the shot: on the left, behind the central beck. I centered, he jumped and saluted, he shot.”

However, something was still missing. Corinthians had not won any relevant title since 1941, something that would only change with the arrival of boys sought after in the traditional lowland team of Maria Zélia, especially Roberto Belangero and Luizinho. Then, from 1950 to 1955, the club lived its most successful period.

At a time when there was no national competition or established periodical international tournaments, the alvinegro team reached its main objective three times, the Campeonato Paulista (1951, 1952 and 1954). He also won the Rio-São Paulo interstate dispute, the Roberto Gomes Pedrosa Tournament three times (1950, 1953 and 1954).

The team also took the Little World Cup (1953) and the Charles Miller International Tournament (1955), defeating rivals such as Barcelona, ​​Roma and Benfica. It was a fantastic cycle of conquests, made possible from the moment the skilful, tiny and impetuous Luizinho positioned himself in the right half, between Cláudio and Baltazar.

“I came with the ball dominated from behind, I gave Luizinho a touch. Luizinho already released the ball in front, on my foot. And with the ball at my foot… Well, it was all easier”, recalled Cláudio .

“He was in a bad phase,” Luizinho told Folha in 1974, recalling the beginning of the partnership. “You were missing a sock to complete your art. We both started the tables, something that no one had done before us.”

I exaggerate, of course, shirt 8. But shirt 7 was really used to the collective game. Luizinho would be less Luizinho without Cláudio. And Balthazar would be much less Balthazar.

If there had been in the 50’s the accounting of assists and the statistical valuation of passes to goal, the Manager of 1.62 m would be even more acclaimed. He was a play preparer, not exactly a finisher, which makes his leadership in Corinthians’ historic artillery even more impressive.

Humble, Cláudio always attributed this position in the list of goalscorers to longevity at the club. He contributed to the exceptional number of balls in the net and the quality of the set pieces.

His favorite goal was the one that decided the Charles Miller Tournament, a free kick that eluded Costa Pereira, Benfica’s goalkeeper (considered the best of all time for the Portuguese team). The effect of the ball stunned the archer, who, according to the alvinegra legend, exclaimed: “It was curvita, oh, man!”.

A black-and-white captain, an extremely respected leader – the nickname was not random – and an outstanding player, the Manager did not play in a World Cup. He played 12 matches for the Brazilian national team and scored five goals, very little for someone of his (short and) huge stature. “I dreamed of making it to the 50’s Cup”, he admitted in a 1983 interview with Placar magazine.

Luizinho also did not play the World Cup in 1954, Neto did not play in the tournament in 1990, Marcelinho was not called up in 1998.

Corinthians fans never understood the difficult-to-explain absences, but they also never gave so much value to those made in green and yellow. What always mattered to him was the production in black and white, and it is very difficult to charge more production than Cláudio’s in these colors.

That’s an incredible 305 goals. Which are far from summarizing their contribution.

Cláudio is the top scorer in the history of Corinthians. He died, in 2000, in his Santos, without showing any arrogance about the feat. What really made him proud was to find some black-and-white who asked him: “Are you a Corinthians fan, Cláudio?”.

The question was not entirely unreasonable considering that the shirts from Palmeiras, São Paulo and Santos were worn. Then, Cláudio explained that he loved Corinthians because of Corinthians.

“And you? Are you a Corinthians fan?”, he replied, returning the question. “So, so am I. I am. Because you are.”