The Allianz Miracle.
I advance: this is how the game will be known next Thursday (30), at the Palmeiras stadium, in São Paulo, if the team manages to qualify for the Libertadores final.
Palmeiras, when faced with a disadvantage of three or more goals in a knockout match after the day’s duel, whether in a national competition (Copa do Brasil) or international competition (Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, Copa Conmebol), in a survey carried out by this column, has never advanced.
This is the situation that the team coached by the Portuguese Abel Ferreira is now faced with, after unexpectedly losing to the LDU (Liga Deportiva Universitaria) coached by the Brazilian Tiago Nunes at an altitude of 2,850 meters in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital.
Unexpected because the defeat could even come, but almost no one imagined the elastic score of 3-0.
To repeat this difference and take the match to penalties, or to score four or more goals and qualify directly, Palmeiras will have around 40 thousand dedicated fans at Allianz Parque in their favor. Rowing against, a few hundred LDU fans and… history.
Even on occasions when Palmeiras lost the first leg of a knockout match by two goals, the comeback came less than 50% of the time (three out of seven matches).
Alviverde qualified for the round of 16 of the Libertadores-2000 (Peñarol, 0-2 and 3-1, advancing on penalties), in the second phase of the 2008 South American Championship (Vasco, 1-3 and 3-0) and in the second phase of the 2010 South American Championship (Vitória, 0-2 and 3-0).
He was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 2018 Libertadores (Boca Juniors, 0-2 and 2-2), in the second phase of the 2011 Sudamericana (Vasco, 0-2 and 3-1, due to an away goal), in the second phase of the 2007 Copa do Brasil (Ipatinga-MG, 0-2 and 2-0, losing on penalties) and in the round of 16 of the Copa do Brasil in 2024 (Flamengo, 0 to 2 and 1 to 0).
When the score in the first game was more than two goals ahead, fate never smiled on the Palmeiras team.
Thirty years ago, in 1995, in the Libertadores quarter-finals, Palmeiras threatened to do the extraordinary at Palestra Itália. Grêmio, led by Luiz Felipe Scolari, brought a 5-0 victory from the Olympic stadium. At the beginning of the game in their home arena, the Alviverde team still took one more, from Jardel, but, under the leadership of Cafu and the fierce Argentine midfielder Mancuso, they reacted and scored five goals. Two were missing.
A year later, in the now defunct Copa Conmebol, coach Antonio Pardal’s Bragantino defeated Bragança Paulista 5-1 against Vanderlei Luxemburgo’s Palmeiras, with Marcos in goal, Roque Júnior in defense, Freddy Rincón in the middle and Luizão in attack. In the return, the 3-0 was insufficient.
In the Copa do Brasil, two defeats that were not reversed: in 2003, in the round of 16, 7-2 for Vitória (3-1 in the second game); in 2011, in the quarterfinals, 6-0 for Coritiba (2-0 in the second match).
The odds are against Palmeiras, and in addition there is the fact that LDU has become famous for, in these knockout stages, killing Brazilian clubs. They buried Botafogo (current champion) in the round of 16 (0-1 and 2-0) and São Paulo in the quarter-finals (2-0 and 1-0).
Palmeiras’ funeral in the semi-final seems to be underway, but I don’t consider the deceased to be consummated.
The Palestrians’ optimism can and should be supported not only by their belief in the sheriff and captain Gustavo Gómez and the top scoring duo Flaco-Roque (Flaco López and Vitor Roque), but by the most recent results in their domains, all this month: 3-0 at Vasco, 4-1 at Juventude, 5-1 at Bragantino.
The Allianz Miracle is possible. It will depend on a significant dose of faith (confidence and conviction) and another, equally or more significant, of inspiration (creativity), determination (race) and competence (aim).
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