Atletico Mineiro won the Brazilian domestic double thanks to the return of Hulk veterans, Diego Costa
It’s not even close. A few days after winning the Brazilian league championship, with a huge 13 points difference, Atletico Mineiro complete the domestic double by winning the trophy, beat Athletico Paranaense 6-1 aggregate on Wednesday.
Victory was rounded off – as it should be – with a superb goal from the veteran striker Hulk, catch a pass behind the defense and beat the opponent’s keeper with a delicate left-foot tackle. Hulk has no rival as the Brazilian player of the year. After only two matches in a foreign country, he fled to Japan as an unknown and built his career abroad. For many years, he was underestimated by many Brazilian football publics, who constantly criticized his presence in the national team. This year, after he returned home, they had a chance to appreciate his qualities.
The fate of the trophy was decided long before Hulk’s goal. Atletico Mineiro came out in Curitiba with one and a half hands on the trophy. On Sunday, in front of their own fans in Belo Horizonte, they set up a 4-0 leading turn. Athletico Paranaense will have to do something special to have any hope of turning the situation around.
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Their aim will have to be as good as those of some of their supporters, who threw rocks at the away team’s bus when it arrived and broke several windows. This sets the tone for the opening exchanges. Before kick off, there was an impressive light show. After the match started, the temperature was much hotter than light, and the referee had to summon the captains and demand calm.
Understandably, Athletico Paranaense has come to the conclusion that they need to raise the emotional rate. They moved away from their usual three-back formation and tried something more aggressive, looking to play a cross into the far post. They caused moments of alarm, and had the ball in the net just for the VAR to find the handball. But in pursuit of such a large deficit, they were certainly left open, and any tension evaporated in the first half of the first half when an Atletico Mineiro counterattack set up the winger. Keno to guide him to shoot home and solve the problem effectively. Hulk was on the scoreboard, the home team gave some belated consolation and the celebrations could begin.
Sunday’s first leg offered plenty of evidence as to why Atletico Mineiro have had such a magical season; The league championship is their first in 50 years and the only other club to have completed the double is local rivals Cruzeiro, who, to add sparkle to Atletico’s champagne, are now languishing in the second division.
Athletico Paranaense arrived at Belo Horizonte with the same cautious game plan that served them well in the semi-final against Flamengo. But they were blown away.
The deadlock was broken by a penalty kick for handball. Some have pointed to the accusation of the number of light penalties Atletico Mineiro has enjoyed this year, but talking about a grand conspiracy is certainly out of place. The truth is that too many light penalties are given in Brazil. And since Atletico spent more time attacking, they were given more than the rest.
Turning 1-0 into 4-0 says a lot about the depth of Atletico’s squad. Hulk’s strike partner, bought mid-year, is the bad old man Atlético Madrid and Chelsea front Diego Costa. He hobbled through injury in the early stages of Sunday’s game, when the score was still 0-0, but was not missed. After Hulk scored a penalty, the second came from a superb strike from winger Keno – a player who played little for most of the campaign, but in sensational form in the final weeks. . And the other two goals came from the substitute Diego Costa, the Chilean striker. Eduardo Vargas.
Atletico have invested heavily and acquired a range of attacking options that have been deemed overwhelming for Athletico Paranaense, just as they have proved too much against most of the club’s other opponents over the course of the past year.
One exception – Palmeiras in the Copa Libertadores, the South American Champions League. They met in the semi-finals, when Hulk missed a penalty and their opponents cleverly used the away goals rule, which won’t come into effect the following year, to take his place in the match. final and finally win the contest for the second time. rowing.
Atletico Mineiro bows out of the undefeated competition, but they will return in search of continental glory in 2022. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine next year’s Brazilian championship or the Libertadores title without the big three – Palmeiras. , Flamengo and Atletico Mineiro .
A few years ago, the first two split the spoils. But Atletico Mineiro invested, emerged and won. Can others find a superhero to rival the mighty Hulk?
