Ten years ago, Santos and Barcelona were at the highest place in club football, deciding the World Cup title in Yokohama, Japan.
That Sunday night, December 18, 2011, the Santos and Catalan fans remembered what for many, including then Barça coach Pep Guardiola, was the greatest performance of the team led by Lionel Messi.
The score from 4-0 was a reflection of the “soccer class”, as defined by Neymar at the time, who barely managed to touch the ball in front of the opponent’s domain. “What we experienced in this game, we will take as a lesson”, said the former Santos 11 shirt, still on the lawn, minutes after the confrontation.
Despite being painful, the defeat did not erase the beautiful football that Santos exhibited that season, in which they returned to conquer the Libertadores after 48 years. It just confirmed Barcelona’s reputation for being an “extraterrestrial” team, as it was called for the outstanding talent of its players.
Few did not revere the involving touch of the ball and the scheme without a fixed attacker, who favored the attackers’ free movement — a tactic that Muricy Ramalho, Santos coach at the time, tried to neutralize using three defenders, something that would prove ineffective.
In addition to closing in behind, the Brazilian team respected the Spaniard too much, with a very different posture from the confidence shown by Léo, who on the night of the celebration for the Copa Libertadores title was already looking forward to a duel with Messi’s team. “Let’s see if Barcelona is all that.”
The expectation for the confrontation was almost dashed even before the final. In the semifinals, the Vila team had a hard time getting past Kashiwa Reysol, from Japan. With more possession and more submissions, the Japanese team was collectively better than Santos, who had to rely on the individual talent of Neymar, author of one two winning goals 3-1.
In addition to the tension experienced in the match that qualified the Brazilians for the decision, behind the scenes of the squad some players were worried about off-field situations, such as Paulo Henrique Ganso. Also during the World Cup, he sold 10% of his economic rights to DIS, the sports arm of Grupo Sonda.
After the loss to Barcelona, he no longer guaranteed his stay at the club. “I’ll leave everything for January”, he warned about the decision about his future – he would end up staying in the Vila until September 2012.
An episode revealed only years later, however, would be the reason for an even greater irritation on the part of the Santos fans and involved the great star of that Santos: Neymar.
In 2014, journalist Rodrigo Mattos, from the UOL portal, revealed that the player’s father had received money from Barcelona six days before the final, as part of the payment for the striker’s transfer, which would only be made official in May 2013.
“I wonder what someone’s head would be like after receiving a check for 10 million euros. I imagine that, from a psychological point of view, in some way, this must have affected”, asked Luis Álvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro at the time (1942 to 2016), who presided over Santos at that time.
Responsible for taking care of the star’s career, Neymar senior admitted having received the value of Barcelona mentioned by the Santos representative, but argued that the amount was a way for the Spanish team to ensure priority in a future negotiation. “The 10 million euros didn’t go to Neymar, they went to N&N,” he said, citing the family company that manages the athlete’s career.
The disclosure of the facts fell like a bomb in Vila Belmiro, causing indignation among the Santos advisers and fans and would be a stain on the team’s relationship with the idol.
The hurt is not greater because the seasons in which Neymar played with the alvinegra shirt were the most victorious in the club’s recent history — the ace won six titles for the team.
After the World Cup, Santos would still win the Recopa in 2012, but later would suffer a long period without national and international achievements, which continues until today.
Worse than that, only the suffering the team went through last season, in which it fought until the final rounds of the Brazilian Championship to avoid the first relegation in its history.
Without money for large investments, the Vila association does not foresee a very different future in 2022, in which it will complete 110 years since its foundation.
Interestingly, Barcelona is also currently experiencing a moment of crisis. Recently, the Spanish team was eliminated in the Champions League group stage, something that had not happened since the 2000/2001 season. And it wasn’t a fluke. The drop reflected the serious crisis the Catalan team is going through, which currently has debts of more than 1 billion euros (BRL 6.4 billion).
The main consequence of this turbulent moment was the end of the productive relationship with Lionel Messi. In August, the ace left Spain after 21 years as Barcelona could not renew his contract and pay his wages without violating the financial fair play imposed by the Spanish Championship rules. Basically, a club cannot spend more than it collects.
Before announcing his move to Paris Saint Germain (FRA), the Argentine star cried in his farewell to the Spanish team, for which he won at least 17 important titles, including the 2011 Club World Cup, with his historic performance against Santos.
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