A massive summer rebuild had seen Robaato Rasamu totally reshape his Athlético Paranaense squad. He’d sold off the bad eggs at the club and was now operating with a much younger squad that was packed to the rafters with potential.
He’d brought in two Argentinian wonderkids and promoted a bunch of exciting players who’d come through the club’s youth ranks. And he promoted two more halfway through the season in promising centre back Evaldo and striker Rafinha, who was the top scorer in the Brazilian U20 Championship.
Paranaense Title Push On The Cards?
Paranaense went into the second half of the season level on points with leaders Palmeiras. And their overachievement saw Rasamu offered the vacant Brazil job but, in a move that went against every fibre of the football lover’s being, he had to turn it down to focus on club matters.
They began well as young starlet Paulo Roberto Aal bagged a brace in a 4-1 win at Vitória then scored the only goal at Sao Paulo. And the 17-year-old won July player of the month. However, the resumption of continental football saw the games catch up with Rasamu’s young squad as they lost five times in seven games. That ended with striker Pipoca’s hat trick inspired a wild 5-3 win over Santos, which sent them into an exciting title race. Paranaense trailed Flamengo, who’ve won the last five titles, by three points but the top seven were separated by nine points with five games remaining.
Paranaense started with a 4-2 win over relegated Bahia before a tricky trip to Flamengo three days before a big continental game (see below). So Rasamu had to sacrifice the first 11 for a 3-0 defeat led by Endrick’s (yep, THE Endrick) goal and assist. They bounced back to beat Cruzeiro 2-1 thanks to first half goals by striker Claudio Saavedra and exciting winger Carlos Eduardo. But their outside title hopes ended with a 3-2 defeat at Gremio. They eventually finished in a solid 3rd place with 72 points, finishing six points behind Flamengo who won yet another title. But their overperformance saw Rasamu win Melhor Treniador do Brasileirao.
Sudamericana Knockouts
Paranaense resumed their Sudamericana campaign against fellow Brazilians Bragantino. They got a great start as Aal scored 37 minutes into the away leg and they held on until a dubious injury time penalty call. They were much the better side at home but both sides wasted chances and it finished 0-0… and went straight to penalties. Holding midfielder Lucas Pena Barcelos missed Paranaense’s third but Elivélton Colaco was the hero as he saved Bragantino’s fifth and sixth penalties.
Next up was Colombian side Independiente Medellín and striker Alejandro Villamayor and Eduardo put them 2-0 by half time of the home leg. The visitors scored from their only attack but Eduardo secured a 3-1 win with a neat finish. That advantage was gone inside seven minutes in Medellín thanks to some truly abysmal defending. Rasamu went mad on the sidelines, which got the desired response as Pipoca got a goal back and centre back Fransuar headed them level. Eduardo killed it off with a wonderful solo goal, picking up the ball in his own half and slaloming through the Medellín defence to fire home from 20 yards.
That sent Paranaense into an all-Brazilian semi-final against Internacional while Botafogo and Atlético Mineiro faced off in the other. The first leg was away and started poorly but Villamayor came off the bench to nick a point from a poor match. Back on home ground they started much better as Saavedra sent Eduardo in to finish superbly from a tight angle before Pena Barcelos let fly from fully 35 yards. They totally bossed the game, only allowing Internacional to have one shot, and wrapped it up with an own goal from Aal’s teasing cross. Paranaense were into the Copa Sudamericana Final!
Copa Sudamericana Final
52,000 Brazilians descended on Colombia as fans of Athlético Paranaense and Atlético Mineiro made the trip to Estadio Deportivo Cali. Paranaense were seeking to win the trophy for a third time while Mineiro were looking to win their first. Rasamu had no injury concerns so lined up:
Colaco; Monserrat, Yago, Fransuar, Carlos; Aal, Pena Barcelos, Fábio, Eduardo; Villamayor, Saavedra
Subs: Pipoca, Santos, Rébola, Anderson, Polaco, Vinicius, Evaldo, Aguilar, Henrique, Esdras, Mazinho, Rafinha
Mineiro started better, having a goal narrowly ruled out for offside on 15 minutes then forcing Colaco into a decent save 10 minutes later. But the sides went into half time at 0-0. But the game turned when Rasamu turned to a positive mindset as Saavedra curled in a delicious effort from 20 yards. Midfielder Fábio forced their keeper into a good save and left back Luiz Carlos whipped the resulting corner into the near post for Fransuar to double the lead. Mineiro created a decent amount but only got one shot on target and Rasamu’s side eased to victory. Paranaense won Copa Sudamericana!
Analysing The Potential At Paranaense
There were a lot of positives for Rasamu to take from a strong Série A performance as only Flamengo (84) scored more than Paranaense’s 75 goals. They also had the highest xG overperformance (16.38) and the best conversion rate (17%) but only scored 10 from set pieces. However, there were also areas to work on, such as having the 3rd-worst pass completion (86%) and dribbles (364) and 6th-worst shots on target ratio (43%). Their 51 goals conceded was the 9th-worst and they gave up the most goals from corners (10) and far too many shots (434 to Palmeiras’ 253). That said, Paranaense achieved 3rd place despite having the 14th lowest salary spend of £17.5m per annum compared to Flamengo’s £96.1m and Palmeiras’ £62.9m.
Paranaense fnished the camapign with three players scoring 20 goals in Pipoca, Eduardo and Villamayor. But the pick of them had to be 19-year-old Eduardo, who also got 19 assists with a 7.29 average rating. Also impressive was Aal, who scored 11 with 14 assists, Fábio with 9 goals and 17 assists, Polaco with 8 goals and 13 assists and Fransuar who scored 10 from centre back.
Rasamu’s hopes of delivering glory to Paranaense were boosted as the 2036 youth intake delivered a potential generational talent in attacking midfielder / striker Esdras. He’s already considered a Série A standard player, couldn’t be registered this season but did become the club’s youngest player aged 16 years 25 days a substitute in the Sudamericana Final. Rasamu’s biggest headache was where to play the 5ft 4in attacker, so he began training a Brazilian box formation ahead of the youngster being promoted to the first team next season.
There was plenty to be excited about at Paranaense and Rasamu was optimistic about the future. With that in mind, he had no second thoughts about signing a new deal on £13,500 per week until 2039.
Could Rasamu build on this to lead Paranaense to success in the competition that really matters, the Copa Libertadores? Join us on Monday to find out!
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