First Division – Primera A. 13 teams in it, but because the league was increasing to 14 teams the next season, no relegation. Rather strange was that the teams met only once between themselves – the league was small enough, yet, the championship was very short. Entirely different from the rest of South America, where long and complicated championships were typical. All teams were from Montevideo – in that Uruguay was unique: apart from city-states, no championship in the world was actually a championship of one city. One city, dominated by two rival clubs… and that was perhaps most interesting: the period when Penarol and Nacional lost their dominance. Sure, other factors contributed – particularly, the bitter fact that all top Uruguayan talent played abroad – but still it was exciting time of the underdog. One last thing: a small league where a team played only 12 games one can’t expect a big difference in points and dominance – yet, there was.
River Plate – last with 5 points. Lucky there was no relegation this season.
Central Espanol – 12th with 7 points. They distinguished themselves infamously: won only one match.
Liverpool – 11th with 8 points. They were the worst scorers this season: only 6 goals.
Huracan Buceo – 10th with 8 points.
Rentistas – 9th with 10 points. One recognizable name here – Ariel Krasouski – which is quite strange: since even Penarol and Nacional had difficulties keeping strong players, how come Krasouski played for small Rentistas?
Wanderers – 8th with 13 points.
Danubio – 7th with 13 points. They performed well in the Copa Libertadores and may be that was why they were not successful in the domestic league: no strength for two tasks. After all, the only recognizable player in the team was Kanapkis – hardly enough for more than mid-table season. What is there to say… the 1988 champions had no team for continuous success.
Defensor Sporting – 6th with 14 points.
Bella Vista – 5th with 14 points. Not bad for one of the small clubs and may be no reason to keep them in mind – but better keep them in mind: they lost only once this season. Not the only team with with such record, but keep them in mind.
Cerro – 4th with 14 points. It was all or nothing for them: 6 wins, but also 4 losses.
Penarol – 3rd with 15 points. Nothing to brag about…
Nacional – 2nd with 15 points. Hugo de Leon was back from Brazil and thus Nacional was the only team with great star, but one aging player was apparently not enough for more than besting arch0enemy Penarol on goal-difference. That was the bitter reality of Uruguayan football… even great clubs like Penarol and Nacional were unable to keep strong players and build good teams.
Progreso dominated the championship, ending with 9 wins, 2 ties, and losing only once. 18-8 was their scoring record. A total of 20 points – 5 more than Nacional and Penarol. Surely, a great season and well deserved title.
Lovely underdog, for sure. Top row from left: Gustavo Machaín, Julio Néstor Maidana, Robert Púa, Eduardo Acosta.
Middle row: Luis Alberto Berger, Esteban Carreira, Leonel Rocco, Pedro Catalino Pedrucci, Víctor Silva.
Front: Johny Miqueiro, Alejandro Pereira, Marcelo Suárez, Próspero Silva.
Coming out of the blue, but what a season! In only 12 games to build a 5-point lead over Nacional and Penarol is quite something even if the giants were weak. Progreso instantly placed itself in history – not just because they won their first and only title, but also for another reason: they matched a very old record, which was considered impossible for a very, very long time – only once before Nacional and Penarol were not champions 3 years in a row and that was between 1908 and 1910, when River Plate (twice) and Wanderers won the titles. Now Progreso matched the same record, after Defensor Sporting won in 1987 and Danubio in 1988. It was unlikely Progreso could continue winning, but they became essential part of the history of Uruguayan football – the period when the dominance of Nacional and Penarol was broken.
One may say – and with good reason – that Progreso’s victory was accidental and mostly due to the weakness of the giants. The new champion had no stars, the squad was rather ordinary, if not obscure, but they played well. It was collective effort, well sustained during the whole season. Others may have been weak, the season was surely too short for correcting mistakes and negligence, but on the other hand even great teams are rarely able to build 5-point lead in only 12 games. Progreso deserves only praise even when it was clear that they will not repeat their performance in the next year. A victory of the underdog is always wonderful. For their fans this squad was instant legend. Progreso became the 9th club in the history of Uruguayan football winning the title.
Such unusual champion deserves one more photo.
Paysandu was the champion of the interior – and this success meant very little, for there was no team located outside Montevideo in the top two divisions.
Basanez won Third Division and was promoted to Primera B. The status quo remained – one more Montevideo club won third level and went up.
Colon – last with 8 points. Interestingly, they were the 5th high scoring team with 22 goals in 18 games.
Villa Espanola – 9th with 10 points.
Fenix – 8th with 13 points. They won only once, but tied 11 games.
Sportivo Italiano – 7th with 17 points.
Miramar Misiones – 6th with 18 points.
Rampla Juniors – 5th with 19 points.
El Tanque Sisley – 4th with 19 points.
Racing – 2nd with 26 points.
Cerrito – 1st with 26 points. Apparently, placed on top on better head-to-head record against Racing, but that meant little – the championship had a final stage.
Sud America – 3rd with 2 points: 0 wins, 2 ties, 0 losses, 2-2. Total – 26 points.
Cerrito – 2nd with 27 points. Their final stage record: 0 1 1 and 1-3.
Racing (Montevideo) won the decisive match against Cerrito in the final stage and thus won the championship. Their final stage added 3 points to the 26 they earned in the regular championship: 1 1 0 and 3-1. Thus, 29 points altogether. Standing from left: Rafael Villazán, Héctor Tuja, Mario Delgado, Alberto Bica, Néstor Rosa.
Great success for the small club – they rarely played in the top division. Going up was wonderful.
Instituto (Cordoba) finished last with 31 points. In the relegation table they were 18th and were not relegated. Very poor season, but one can note a player with quite a high profile in the 1990s – Dely Valdes.
Deportivo Armenio ended 19th with 37 points. They went down – last in the relegation table.
Ferrocarril Oeste – 18th with 45 points. There great days were over, but relegation was not for them yet.
San Martin (Tucuman) – 17th with 46 points. The relegation table worked against them, as it worked against Deportivo Armenio: in it, they were last. Like Deportivo Armenio, they did not play in the top league continuously in the last 3 seasons and that was one major reason for having so bad combined record. They were relegated.
Racing (Cordoba) – 16th with 50 points.
Platense – 15th with 50 points.
Textil (Mandiyu) – 14th with 51 points. Relatively strong season kept them in the league – like San Martin (Tucuman), they were just promoted to Primera Division and their relegation record consisted only of this season’s points – but because they played well enough, they ended 15th in the relegation table. Good for one more season at least. More intriguing is their name – they are generally known as Deportivo Mandiyu and under this name appeared in magazines and so on. But not in the final table… in it they are named Textil. May be the club changed name during the season… a mystery. Textil or Deportivo, they had the league record of ties in this championship – 19 games. Of them, they won 11 in the penalty shoot-outs.
Rosario Central – 13th with 51 points.
Newell’s Old Boys – 12th with 51 points. For a team featuring Sensini, Batistuta, ‘Tata’ Martino, Dario Franco, Norberto Scoponi – quite a disappointing season. Especially when they reached the Copa Libertadores final in 1988. May be the players were still too young to be able to endure long gruelling season and the Copa Libertadores effort took they their attention away from the domestic championship. May be that, or may be the best talent was already attracted by lucrative contracts abroad. Whatever the case, it was disappointing season – perhaps the biggest slump in the league at that time.
Velez Sarsfield – 11th with 53 points. Young Diego Simeone here, but the biggest puzzlement come from the presence Gareca. In 1989 he was still a player of Colombian America (Cali). So… the photo, although from 1989, belongs to 1989-90 season – most likely, that’s the case, for Colombian season was canceled in October. Velez Sarsfield won most penalty shoot-outs in the championship: 12 out of 17 ties.
Gimnasia y Esgrima (La Plata) – 10th with 57 points.
Racing (Avellaneda) – 9th with 59 points. Like Velez Sarsfield, it is not certain to which season the photo belongs – to 1988-89 or to 1989-90 – but in general would not matter much: Racing was going through their long convulsions, which started back in the 1960s. Bankruptcy was looming large, not success.
Estudiantes (La Plata) – 8th with 61 points. As usual, ahead of local rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima, but that was all this season.
Argentinos Juniors – 7th with 61 points. Not bad at all – they managed to stay quite strong for a small club, routinely losing their best players to other clubs.
Talleres (Cordoba) – 6th with 65 points. Good season for a good squad.
For the sake of variety, San Lorenzo de Almagro dressed in their reserve kit. 5th with 66 points. If anything, San Lorenzo knew how to stay among the strongest.
River Plate – 4th with 67 points. This squad could be considered a failure… Menotti was the coach and the selection was stellar. At least, on paper… Perhaps not entirely completed and balanced, but given the current reality of Argentine football – the stars constantly going to Europe, that is – a very impressive squad. On paper… Claudio Borghi is here, but eventually went to play in Brazil – more or less, on his way going down. Seemingly, the magic of Menotti dried up already as well.
Deportivo Espanol – 3rd with 68 points. Ahead of River Plate with their stars. Arguably, the best season of Deportivo Espanol, which is quite a modest club. In the ranks of Buenos Aires… may be a third tier club. That was their time, though, and there is nothing better than a Cinderella story. And signs of the future were present: it was not yet high fashion for players to roll their socks above the knee, so here is an early bird in times when it was fashionable to roll down the socks to the ankles.
Boca Juniors – 2nd with 76 points. Strong season of not a bad team, but they were not a title contender. Compared to River Plate, they appeared weaker, but performed better. Well, if not able to win the title, ate least they finished ahead of the arch-enemy and that was always sweet.
At the end – familiar champion. Independiente (Avallaneda) won the championship with confidence – 84 points. 8 points ahead of Boca Juniors. They won 22 games, lost only 5. Their 11 ties ended with 7 penalty shoot-out wins and 4 losses. Scored 58 goals, allowed 32. Very strong season indeed.
Their squad was perhaps more similar to Boca’s team than to River’s – a bunch of stars, but fewer and not quite as famous as River’s. A slight change of line-up – as the one here – suddenly makes the team rather ordinary on paper. But not on the field!
Standing from left: Pereira, Clausen, Monzón, Delgado, Ríos, Ludueña.
Chacarita Juniors finished last with 23 points. In the relegation table they were 20th and thus – relegated.
Temperley – 21st with 26 points. 21st in the relegation table too, so relegated. Second row from left: Medina, Capuzzi, Pereyra, Franchini, Bottari, Legaspi. Crouching: Aguilar, Morrudo, Arana, Seco, Azerrad.
Tigre – 19th with 30 points.
Estacion Quequen (Necochea) – 18th with 31 points. And the curse of the newcomer… since they were just promoted to Second Division, they had no previous record in the relegation table and had to depend only on this season – which was brave, but still lowly, and thus their average was the worst in the relegation table. They were relegated.
Los Andes – 16th with 33 points. Standing from left: Justo S. Meza, Néstor Ferraresi, Daniel Bolognese, Enrique José Alvarez, Héctor Franchoni.
Quilmes – 15th with 37 points. Back row from left: Jorge Di Gregorio, Javier Orrego, Emilio Kalujerovich, Ricardo Kergaravat, Alejandro Mulet, Guillermo Escalante.
Deportivo Maipu – 14th with 43 points. Here is the mystery… in the relegation table they were 12th. No reason to be in danger of relegation at all, yet, they were the team which went to the promotion/relegation play-off.
Central Cordoba (Santiago del Estero) – 13th with 43 points.
Banfield – 12th with 44 points.
Atletico Tucuman – 11th with 45 points.
Talleres (Renedios Escalada) – 9th with 48 points. Going to promotion play-offs.
Belgrano – 7th with 50 points. Going to promotion play-offs.
Huracan – 5th with 51 points. Going to promotion play-offs.
Almirante Brown – 4th with 51 points. Going to promotion play-offs.
Union – 3rd with 52 points. Going to promotion play-offs.
Lanus – 2nd with 53 points. Lost top place by a point. Going to promotion play-offs, but with a bit of luck they would have been champions and directly promoted up.
Chaco For Ever – clinched 1st place with 54 points from 21 wins, 12 ties, 9 losses, and 66-44 goal difference. Dramatic victory, no doubt, but well rewarded – not only champions of Second Division, but directly promoted to Primera – a rare achievement.
Atletico Rafaela lost to Huracan 3-5 and 1-2. Top row from left: Fertonani, Marino, Querini, Levrino, Berzero, Alfaro. Front: Giordano, Fuentes, López, Bernasconi, Riberi.
Olimpo (Bahia Blanca) was eliminated by Almirante Brown 2-0 and 1-3. Hard to tell why… they scored away goal.
Villa Dalmine lost to Colon 0-0 and 1-4.
So unlucky… leading at half-season, but lost the title at the end by single point. They won the promotion ½ final against Colon and yet the losers went to the final… unless Lanus was punished for some infractions, there was no reason the winning team to be eliminated.
Union (Santa Fe) won the promotion play-offs – or Torneo Reducido – and got promoted. A nice return to top flight.
It was nice for Union (Santa Fe) to earn promotion, but still the champions of Second Division were the best team – once again, Chaco For Ever. Second row from left: Di Marco, Valdéz, Freyre, Ferlatti, Sperandío, Parrado. First row: Cravero, Noremberg, Alfredo Fernández, Luis Sosa, Rosas.
Sport (Recife) tried hard to win a trophy, but it was not their year… relegation to second level and no remedy with a cup.
Gremio (Porto Alegre) kept strong position in Brazilian football – they were unable to reach the championship final, but still won the Cup.
Well done, but it was somewhat of a last hurrah of a fading team – there best years were already in the past, the current squad was not that great. Still capable of winning, though.
Vitoria – remained in Serie A
Bahia – remained in Serie A
Atletico Paranaense – relegated
Guarani – relegated
Sport – relegated
Coritiba – relegated. Did not play in the relegation tournament.
16 – Internacional (Limeira)
15 – Fluminense. Standing from left: Carlos André, Donizete, Rangel, Ricardo Pinto, Torres, Edgar;
14 – Internacional (Porto Alegre)
13- Nautico. Standing from left: Mauri, Lúcio, Ronilson, Levi, Muller, Junior.
12 – Santos
11 – Gremio
10 – Goias
9 – Flamengo
8 – Atletico Mineiro
7 – Portuguesa.
6 – Corinthians
5 – Palmeiras
4 – Botafogo
3 – Cruzeiro. Possible photo of a 1989 eleven.
2 – Sao Paulo. Standing from left: Adilson, Gilmar, Vizolli, Ricardo Rocha, Nelsinho, Zé Teodoro. First row: Hélio Santos (masseur), Mário Tilico, Bobô, Ney Bala, Raí, Edivaldo.
And the champions: Vasco da Gama. Well deserved triumph of nice squad.
Great season of a squad bursting with talent. The most detectable feature of these players was their age – they were young! Most likely that was the ‘great secret’: Flamengo, coached by Tele Santana, was impressive on paper, may be even more impressive than Vasco, but it was aging team with aging coach – tired and may be tactically outdated. Vasco was current team and they won. After 15 years Vasco da Gama won its 2nd Brazilian title.
Mixto
Vila Nova
Taguatinga
Atletico Goianiense
MAC – Maranhao Atletico Clube
Ferroviario
River
America (Natal)
CSA
Sergipe
Fluminense de Feira
Cabofriense
Desportiva
Colatina
Goiatuba
Goiania
Novorizontino
Esportivo (Passos)
Tupi
Bangu
Ponte Preta
Operario (Campo Grande)
Gloria
Marcilio Dias
Esportivo (Bento Goncalves)
Caxias
Pinheiros
Londrina
ABC (Natal)
Americano (Campos)
Moto Club – or Moto Clube (Sao Luis)
Botafogo (Ribeirao Preto)
Rio Negro (Manaus)
Uniao (Sao Joao)
Anapolina
Central
Juventus (Mooca)
Treze
Operario (Ponte Grossa)
Rio Branco
XV de Novembre (Piracicaba) – also known as XV de Piracicaba
Ceara
Itaperuna
Criciuma
Remo lost to Bragantino 0-0, 0-0, and 1-4 in the penalty shootout.
Bragantino (Braganca Paulista) won the championship.
The champions were happy, of course: it was not often Bragantino won a trophy. As for the team, it is hard to tell how good they were, since transfers in Brazil were frequent. The emblematic Biro-Biro played at least in the finals, but he also played for first-level team this very year.
At October 1st, 1989, the referee Arturo Ortega was gunned down after officiating in Medellin a scoreless draw between Deportivo Independiente and America (Cali). Soon after the murder a journalist received an anonymous call from a man claiming to be one of the killers, who said ‘we and our patrons lost a lot of money’, blaming Ortega for the result of the match. The murder of Ortega was the last drop in the already dark reality of Colombia, football included, and the championship was canceled. At the moment 318 games were played and the championship was in the second phase, but it was canceled entirely – no champion, no any kind of final standing. To a point, it was a revolt against the narco-cartels and it was also without much significance. Seven clubs were run by narco-cartels at the time: Atletico Nacional and Deportivo Independiente (Medellin), America (Cali), Millonarios (Bogota), Independiente (Santa Fe), Union (Magdalena), and Deportivo (Pereira). It was hardly a secret… and football mirrored the grim Colombian reality: the country divided by narco-cartels with their influence, practices, and rivalries – a match between Deportivo Independiente and America was more than a football rivalry, but also a battle between narco-cartels not only for the title and it was impossible to tell what exactly was at stake: was it a war between cartels for bigger shares of the drug market or clash of egos? Most likely both, but there was another element equally strong: betting. The same people who were ready to do anything to put their team on top also bet money (legally and illegally) on the outcomes of games and when big money was to be won egos suddenly were not all that important – at least for a moment. In the eyes of Medellin’s fans (and not only theirs), Ortega unfairly favoured America in his last match. He was ‘guilty’… but was he? Was it just bad refereeing or was he controlled by the owners of America? Of course, the notorious Medellin cartel led by larger than life Pablo Escobar was blamed and most certainly he was behind the murder, yet… there were layers and layers so difficult to peel and reach definite truth. Criminals were involved in sports for a long time all around the world – there were money in sports. Money to be made and money to be cleaned – one of the most important reasons for drug cartels to get involved with football was because it provided easy way to launder money. There were also egos – the ‘big boss’ must be first in anything. And most drug lords were genuine fans of football and their teams too… Pablo Escobar was all of that and he was also the most flamboyant and controversial drug lord. He was uncharacteristically emotional watching the penalty shoot-out of Copa Libertadores final at the stands and cheering Atletico Nacional’s victory, according to his long-time bodyguard. Atletico Nacional’s triumph was his own doing – he not only made his beloved club strong, but treated players as friends. But he also took control of Atletico Nacional rival Deportivo Independiente (DIM) and was often seen at the stadium watching their games. Friends are friends, but… Escobar often invited rival drug lords to party and play private games – ‘come around, bring the best players you chose and let see who will win’. And bet on the outcome… There was no player-friend capable or refusing a call for private play from the boss… even Maradona flew to play for Escobar and that when the drug lord was in prison – Maradona always claims he had no idea why he had to fly to Colombia and who Escobar was, just going for the money offered and very much surprised to play a game in a prison. If only he knew, he would, naturally, have refused… but unfortunately he did not know. Right… at the time when Maradona was snorting cocaine like there was no tomorrow he had no idea where cocaine comes from and who was running it and was in the news almost daily. Friendlies and some man-to-man betting around the barbecue is one thing, winning a championship – quite another for the same protagonists. One could lose a few hundred thousands with a smile to a ‘buddy’ at home, but that thousands and more have to be legalized or just come back through official games and fixed betting on larger scale – and here there are no buddies. In general, Escobar was the most brutal among the drug lords – others preferred bribes to murder – but it was a small distinction. A few years later Andres Escobar, the great defender of Atletico Nacional was killed, presumably for his ‘shameful’ performance at the 1994 World Cup, but he was the only player among the Colombian stars uncomfortable with and quite openly critical to drug money – which effectively meant standing against his own boss Pablo Escobar. Escobar was ruthless, yet, he was also a saint even now to many in Medellin – he built housing and schools to the poor (and, to a point, it was genuine concern for bettering their lives). He gave them also a great team – and this was even patriotic, for to a large degree he was responsible for elevating Colombian national team to a world-class power. Except Andres Escobar all Colombian stars of the time, coach Maturana included, praise Pablo. Then again, almost all of them played for Atletico Nacional and personally benefited by ‘friendship’ with the drug lord. Escobar really loved football, that was sure. It was also a deadly love… Alvaro Ortega went against Medellin on two accounts: ‘robing’ DIM from a possible victory and thus robing Atletico Nacional as well in the battle against America (Cali). He had to die.. again, for two reasons (not counting the hint of lost money from betting): the usual fan’s anger at the real or imagined ‘crooked’ referee supporting the enemy and also a referee appearing to be in the crutches of a deadly rival (Cali drug cartel). Football became a part of the war between the war between Colombian government and the drug lords and there are doubts that even today the game is clean from drug money and influence. But in 1989 the championship was canceled – the scandal was too big, the crime too much. And because of that only photos of teams will be given – for the teams existed and played more than half of the season.
Once Caldas
Deportivo (Cali)
Atletico (Bucaramanga)
Deportivo (Cucuta). Standing from left: Chepe Torres, Pedro Nel Barbosa, Antonio ‘el gringo’ Palacios, Willian Mosquera, Luis Carlos ‘el panameño’ Sánchez, Carlos Mario Estrada .
Atletico Junior
Deportes (Tolima)
Atletico Nacional (Medellin). Top row from left: Miguel Alfredo Nuñez, José Fernando “Chepe” Castañeda, José René Higuita Zapata, Hernán Torres Oliveros.
DIM – as usually is written and called Deportivo Independiente (Medellin) in Colombia. Technically, their match against America brought ‘the revenge’ on the referee Ortega. Pablo Escobar was certainly ‘something else’ – he was the only drug lord owning two teams and supporting physically both. Yet, his major love was Atletico Nacional – DIM had a strong team, but nothing like the star-studded Atletico Nacional. It also serves as an example to question a claim often made in Colombia: that drug lords benefited the development of football by bringing top foreign talent. First, Colombian clubs imported great foreigners from the first day they created the professional league, so it was nothing new. Second, the drug lords did not hire the best foreigners even when the poured enormous money into their clubs – as the foreigners playing for DIM testify: Juan Carlos Letelier (Chile) and Jorge Jara (Paraguay) are not world-class stars. No matter what, Colombians could not compete with European clubs when it came to great stars – the reasons for that are not only monetary, of course.
Deportivo (Pereira)
Millonarios finished 2nd in the Torneo Apertura with 38 points. Standing from left: Sergio Goycochea, Luis Manuel Quiñones, Cerveleón Cuesta, Wilman Conde, Eduardo Pimentel. First row: Carlos Enrique “Gambeta” Estrada, Jair Abonía, Oscar “Pajaro” Juárez, Hugo Galeano, Alberto Gamero, John Jairo “Pocillo” Díaz.
America (Cali) won Torneo Apertura with 44 points. As the text shows, drug lords running the club did not banish them from playing in the USA. Then again, their owners kept lower public profile than Pablo Escobar and were more ‘refined’ – preferred bribes to gunning down referees.
Union (Magdalena) – was 2nd in Copa Colombia. The Argentine-born goalkeeper of national team Bolivia Carlos Trucco was the most recognizable player in the squad.
Independiente (Santa Fe) was leading the Copa Colombia stage when the championship was cancelled. Standing from left: Adolfo Valencia, Freddy Rincón, Manuel Rincón, Miller Cuesta, José Romeiro Hurtado, Fernando Hernández. First row: John Edison Álvarez, William “El Palmero” Morales, Héctor Ramón “El Rambo” Sossa, Sergio Vargas, Germán Morales
The first leg in Asuncion gave comfortable advantage to the hosts.
Olimpia scored twice. The lead was highly encouraging.
Olimpia had high hopes, because not only they went to Colombia with good lead, but also because the second leg was not played in Meddelin. The rules required a venue holding at least 50 000 and there was no such stadium in Meddelin, so the second leg had to be played in Bogota. In theory, the crowd there would be if not hostile, at least cool to Atletico Nacional.
But Colombian fans turned out to be mainly patriotic and enthusiastically supported Atletico Nacional, which was determined to win.
The advantage of Olimpia was neutralized.
The hosts equalized the result in the 65th minute and the match ended 2-0 Atletico Nacional. Penalty shoot-out followed and the public was kept on tiptoes for a long time.
The shoot-out started with immediate advantage to the hosts: in the duel of the goalkeepers, the Uruguayan-born Paraguayan national team goalkeeper Ever Hugo Almeida was beaten by flamboyant Rene Higuita in the first penalty. But it took 18 shoots altogether before there was a winner and if at first penalties were scored, eventually there were more and more misses.
And after Sanabria missed the net, Leonel Alvarez stepped in and scored. To the frenzied delight of the crowd Atletico Nacional won. 5-4.
Luis Carlos Perea received Copa Libertadores
It was wonderful moment of triumph.
Everybody deserved to hold the Cup.
Coach Francisco Maturana most of all.
Olimpia (Asuncion) lost its opportunity to win a second Copa Libertadores. Standing from left: Ever Almeida, Roberto Krausemann, Herib Chamas, Jorge Guasch, Gustavo Benítez, Fidel Miño.
This was the heroic line in Bogota, but photos of the Copa Libertadores winners around the world favoured the losing side of the first final leg.
In general, this is the most popular photo of the winners – a picture not from any final leg. Suarez, Galeano, and Villa did not play at the finals. But never mind – there are much more important things about the fresh conquer of Copa Libertadores. For the first time Colombian team won the trophy, a historic victory. It was the 4th attempt of Colombian team to win, but Atleitico Nacional reached the final for the first time and instantly won – thus, they came above America (Cali), which lost 3 consecutive finals. In local terms, the team from Medellin became more successful than famous rivals America (Cali, rightly the strongest Colombian club for a long time) and Millonarios (Bogota). That is, provincials topped the Colombian more important clubs and cities. And in quit unusual manner too: as rule of thumb, strong Colombian teams depended largely on foreign players and coaches – Atletico Nacional had Colombian coach and only Colombian players. Francisco Maturana was rapidly becoming world-wide famous and so were his players. Almost the whole squad were current Colombian national team players, which were coming to maturity – winning Copa Libertadores not only boosted confidence, but also propelled the national team to previously unreachable heights. Maturana is to be praised for building this squad and players like Hiquita, Escobar, Alvarez as well for their loyalty to club and coach, but there was something else, another side.
Did Pablo Escobar attended the final? At least in Bogota, if not in Asuncion? He was more than a fan – it was hardly a secret that he and the Medellin Cartel financed Atletico Nacional. The cocaine lord and his sinister ways were big trouble already – yes, he supported the poor in Medellin, he cared for football, and probably without drug money Atletico Nacional would not became great, but was the loyalty of coach and players real? Or fear kept them together and in Medellin? Under normal circumstances it was more than likely the stars would join bigger and more successful clubs. But it is academic – the fact is Maturana and the boys were playing with green and white to the delight of Medellin, Pablo Escobar included. The new fame also opened other avenues for the protagonists – Maturana became coach of the Colombian national team, some of the players moved to Europe right after conquering South America (perhaps those were the wisest – a few years later Andres Escobar will be killed by displeased mafia). To a point, Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel masterminded Atletico Nacional’s success and such ‘benefactors’ are always whimsical and lethal. That was behind the scene – on the field strong, hungry and quite delightful team really put Colombian football on the world map. At last.
So, here are the heroes once again – they had no way to prove how good really were at home this season, thanks again to Pablo Escobar and his buddies.
Tradition suggested Italian victory. The Colombians were feeling cold, they were quite unknown internationally, even accidental, so famous Milan full of world-class stars should have no trouble beating Atletico Nacional even without Gullit.
But the intercontinental clash had its own tradition… and no matter how good an European team at the moment, their South American opponents were even or better.
This clash was no exception.
Atletico Medelin not only neutralized mighty Milan, but looked more dangerous.
The Colombians fought by every legal or illegal mean and Milan suffered, even its best players unable to prevail and finding themselves often tackled down.
Somehow the underdog managed to stay in the game and nobody scored a goal. The regular time ended 0-0.
Call it determination, call it pure luck, call it typical Italian football… it was at the very end of the extra time, when penalty shoot-out seemed sure, when Milan got a free kick and the substitute Evani was chosen to try his luck.
He managed to curve the ball around the wall and in the net. 1-0 in the 119th minute.
There was no time for anything else, it was victory!
Franco Baresi lifted the Toyota Cup.
Alberigo Evani received the goal-scoring trophy – a brand new Toyota to fly home.
Milan started their triumphal round.
The players honoured the man behind their success – Arrigo Sacchi.
Milan won and ended 1989 triumphant.
Atletico Nacional (Medellin) lost. In a way, too bad – it was unfortunate loss and would have been nicer if the underdog won. But on the other hand… Milan was the classier team and scored a goal, unlike the Colombians. Also, a victory of a club related to the Colombian drug mafia would not have been pretty… better Berlusconi than the notorious Medellin clan. No matter – it was good effort, the boys stood their ground, did whatever they could, there was no shame. Only bitterness of the chancy way they lost.
Milan confirmed they were the best in the world even without Gullit. Nobody could doubt the greatness of this vintage – they won all international trophies this year. Certainly they were going to stay on top, a new dynasty shaping the football world and its development. Milan was back to the greatness it enjoyed in the 1960s and won its second Intercontinental Cup. 20 years passed from their first victory in 1969, the tournament was changed and called concurrently the Toyota Cup, so Milan won for the first time this format played in Tokyo – in a sense, climbing one more peak.