In the early 1960s, those who liked football woke up excited on the days when Santos and Botafogo met, for whatever reason, Libertadores, Taça Brasil, Rio-São Paulo Tournament or simple friendly.
Between 1960 and 1963, the height of the Carioca team (Santos lasted longer) were nine games with 37 goals, more than four per game, 20 from Santos, 17 from Botafogo.
The balance was size between the teams of Rei Pelé and Mané Garrincha that were four victories for each side and a draw.
Those who didn’t care about football, if they saw the games, would start to like it, even if they weren’t the most popular clubs in the country.
On Sunday, April 10, the football lover’s excitement was, no less, the same.
There was neither Pele nor Mané, but there was the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne on the blue side and the Egyptian Mohamed Salah on the red side.
And just like the Brazilian black-and-whites did, the two best teams in the United Kingdom delivered what they promised, in an unforgettable show that ended 2-2.
Of course, the national classic was not limited to 10 and 7, because it had Zito, Coutinho, Nilton Santos, Didi, among other giants, such as Pepe and Amarildo.
Also in the clash between leader and vice-leader of the English Championship, separated by just one point, there are plenty of stars, such as Brazilian goalkeepers Alisson and Ederson, Dutch defender Van Dijk, Portuguese Cancelo, among, also, other giants, such as Senegalese Mané, who is not Garrincha, and the Portuguese Bernardo Silva.
What was seen in City’s stadium was 90 minutes more electrifying stoppage time, with De Bruyne opening the scoring in the 5th minute of the game and Mané equalizing 50 seconds into the second half, because no one could blink.
Taking your eye off the screen was to miss an important move, whether in the construction from the defense field, or in a shot inside the area, or in a great defense, or a ball on the crossbar.
Ninety minutes like the last three in NBA games!
One of those games that are pitiful when they end and that are so good you forget that on one bench you have the brilliant Catalan Pep Guardiola and on the other the no less brilliant German Jürgen Klopp.
Note the rare reader and the rare reader that if in the Brazilian references there is no foreigner, in the English there are no English ones, because the Premier League is the new Foreign Legion.
Players hired for gold and who run after the ball like a plate of food, because millionaire professionals and aware that the show can’t stop.
The incessant fight for the occupation of spaces, the mad dispute for possession of the ball, in permanent tribute to the fan, to football.
Do not imagine that there is any exaggeration here, but a heartfelt thanks to the afternoon of ball capable of reminiscent of the childhood of those who fell in love with the so-called Breton sport precisely because of the quality that he knew in the feet of the greatest masters who ever inhabited Planeta Bola.
two surprises
Ceará surprised Palmeiras at home, won by 3 to 2 and imposed an unbearable rush to the heavy alviverde calendar. Two goals in less than 15 minutes of play give the measure of the size of the surprise.
Corinthians surprised Botafogo at Nilton Santos by making it 3-0 in the first half and filling up the Rio de Janeiro beer prepared to celebrate the return of Glorioso.
In the second half, without Willian who ground, and without Paulinho, Timão took a goal: 3 to 1.
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