The South American football map is double-sided. While Argentina, the reigning American and world champion, has arrived at the national team level, Brazilian dominance is increasing at the club level. Fluminense defeated Boca Juniors 2-1 in a dramatic final decided in extra time at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro to become Copa Libertadores champions for the first time in history, a result that confirmed Brazilian hegemony , which began in 2019.
Although he couldn’t finish the game because he was injured at the end of the second half, Brazilian full-back Marcelo – 25-time champion with Real Madrid – once again added a new title to his career, this time at 35 years old and at the highest heights America.
Another old coach of Brazilian football, Felipe Melo, also stood out for Fluminense, although the heroes of the final were Argentina’s Germán Cano and John Kennedy, who both scored goals with beautiful determination. Colombian Jhon Arias also played well for the winners, while Peruvian Luis Advíncula temporarily tied the score for Boca and Colombian Frank Fabra was sent off.
Fluminense is the 26th club to join the list of Copa Libertadores champions, the tenth in Brazil. However, the Argentines continue to lead the table of countries with the most cup wins, although now 25 against 23. The last joy outside of the Brazilians was the title that the Argentinian River also won against Boca in 2018. Since then, Flamengo (twice), Palmeiras (two more) and now Fluminense have won the cup.
It is the first time that teams from the same country have won five titles in a row. So far, the country’s teams had won four cups in a row, but were unable to achieve their fifth win in a row. Between 1967, Racing and Estudiantes – in triplicate – had the trophy dressed in light blue and white, as did Independiente with its four-time championship from 1972 to 1976. Already in this century, the Brazilians won the titles in 2010 (Inter), 2011 (Santos), 2012 (Corinthians) and 2013 (Atlético Mineiro).
While Fluminense got revenge for its only previous final, the defeat against Liga de Quito in 2008, Boca remains with six titles, one behind top club winners Independiente with seven – although their last joy was a long time ago, in 1984- . The Xeneizes add three consecutive frustrations in the deciding game, against Corinthians in 2012, River in 2018 and this Saturday.
Club World Cup
Fluminense will now be the South American representative at the Club World Cup, which will be played in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from December 12th to 22nd. Among other things, Manchester City will also take part as the current champions of the Champions League; the León of Mexico as winners of the Concacaf Champions League; and Al-Ittihad from Saudi Arabia as local league champions.
In the middle of a Maracana fantastically divided between Argentine and Brazilian fans, each team relied on their usual weapons: Fluminense as the virtual home team with the ball and Boca as the virtual visitor, waiting, crouched and equipped with less possession of the ball, but with the best situations, led by the Uruguayan Edinson Cavani, although in reality only close, not without great danger to Fábio’s goal.
In this silence, the development seemed to benefit the Argentines – technically neutral – when the first break came after 36 minutes, the goal from Cano, an Argentine almost unknown in his country, who arrived two years ago after a great time in Colombia Brazil came to football and became the unexpected figure of Fluminense.
And not only that: with 13 goals, Cano was also confirmed today as the top scorer in the 2023 edition of the cup. Since the beginning of the century, in 2000, when Brazilian Luizao scored 15 goals for Corinthians, no player has scored such a goal streak in the same year. Beyond Cano’s great definition, the Argentine striker’s success was that he outsmarted Advíncula and found space in the penalty area: you win football with the ball and create space.
Boca, an old foe of South American football, then had to do what they had least liked in the original plans: look for a draw. With roles reversed, Fluminense dedicated themselves to waiting for their rival and felt uncomfortable: although the Argentinians did not arrive, they did not give up either, especially after a great performance from Ezequiel Fernández in the middle of the field.
So it happened that a shot from outside the Advíncula area in the 27th minute of the second half marked the score at 1-1. The usual psychological strength of the Argentine teams was also present at the Maracana, although the unevenness in extra time came from a great goal from Kennedy in the 9th minute of the first extra time: talent rather than mentality. In the midst of the delirium, the goalscorer himself was sent off for celebrating in the Maracana stands, but the numerical difference did not last long for Boca: at the end of this phase, Fabra also received a red card.
Boca ended the second phase as a strange second: it didn’t win any games. The Argentine team had reached the final having lost just one game in the entire competition – against Deportivo Pereira in the first phase – but at the same time had a very strange record: no wins in head-to-head matches.
After four wins in the first round, they played six games from the direct elimination duels and did not win in the 90 minutes. They survived the round of 16 (against Nacional from Uruguay, 0-0 and 2-2), the quarter-finals (against Racing de Avellaneda, 0-0 and 0-0) and the semi-finals (against Palmeiras from Brazil, 0-0 and 0: 0). 1:1) thanks to their impressive effectiveness in the penalty shootout.
This rarity reminded us of the campaigns of two other atypical finalists, a champion and a runner-up. In 1988, PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands won the European Cup (now the Champions League) without winning any of its last five games, but survived in the final against Benfica thanks to favorable draws on the away goals rule and penalty shootouts. In 2011, Paraguay reached the Copa América final after five consecutive draws without a win, losing to Uruguay in the final.
The final will also be remembered for the past few days, when tens of thousands of Argentine fans marched into Rio de Janeiro and were attacked by Fluminense supporters. The situation prompted Conmebol to hold an emergency meeting to ask leaders of both clubs to lobby their ultras to end the violence. Such mobilization of Argentine fans was not enough to prevent the title of Fluminense, the new American champions in their homeland, the Maracana.
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