Pentagon Pursuit | Part 34 | Goalkeeper Chaos

July 2038 saw Robaato Rasamu celebrate 15 years of life as a Football Manager and, having won continental titles in Asia, North America and Africa, he was potentially facing his toughest task yet. The brutal nature of Brazilian football was starting to catch up with his young Athlético Paranaense side, who’d played nearly half their Série A season in just two months.

While the players were exhausted, the Paranaense board were delighted with Rasamu’s efforts and handed him a new deal worth £16.5k a week until 2042. But another challenge was waiting around the corner as Man UFC came in with derisory £20m offers for Claudio Saavedra and right back Nicolás Monserrat. Both players had already told Rasamu they wanted to go, so he negotiated hard and swiftly smashed the club record sale twice in a week with £50m for Monserrat and a new record fee paid to a Brazilian club of £80m for Saavedra, which represented a £116m profit over two years.

There was better news as the other returning international Lucas Pena Barcelos showed some loyalty to sign a new five year deal. He was joined by an exciting arrival as striker Roameth Merino joined at the end of his contract at Colombian wonderkid factory Envigado. Rasamu moved quickly to bring in two new Argentinian wonderkids as right back Sergio Brunet arrived for £3m from O’Higgins and attacker Rodrigo Bracamonte arrived on a free having left Lanús.

Libertadores Knockouts

The Monserrat and Saavedra sales came just a few days before Paranaense resumed their Libertadores campaign against Gimnasia. First up was a trip to Argentina and the impact of the sales showed as they whimpered to a 2-0 half time deficit. Rasamu laid into the team and eventually got a response as Esdras sent his strike partner Pipoca through to give them something to play for.

They improved at home as striker Abel Aguilar sent Pipoca in to finish then the roles reversed as the Peruvian slammed home from the edge of the box. Pipoca seized on a defensive mistake just after the break but they conceded three times in 15 minutes from four shots on target to suddenly face the exit door. Rasamu rang the changes and Pauleta drilled home from the edge of the area before Merino made himself a hero in the 86th minute. And a wild game finished 5-3 for a 6-5 aggregate success.

A familiar opponent followed against Atlético Mineiro in the quarter final. The away leg was a drab affair that looked to be going the way of the hosts thanks to a howler by left back Luiz Carlos. But winger Paulo Roberto Aal stepped up, latching on to Fábio’s pass to grab a draw. Back on home ground, Paranaense started brighter and Bracamonte missed a huge chance just before half time. But the game swung on Rasamu’s substitutes. He replaced Bracamonte with winger Carlos Eduardo, who created the opener for Fábio, sprung a counter attack from which Rafinha doubled the lead then laid on another for Fábio. A 4-1 aggregate win sent Paranaense into Rasamu’s first Libertadores semi final.

Paranaense faced Palestino, who shocked Boca 4-2 in the quarters, while Flamengo took on Corinthians. The away leg was first again and Palestino started well, getting several shots in without causing too great a threat. Paranaense grew into the game and took the lead through a smart Aguilar finish. The striker then teed up Fábio to hit a sweet volley from 20 yards and it should have been comfortable, but a dreadful clearance by goalkeeper Guilherme de Moraes gifted Palestino a lifeline. The second leg saw Paranaense boss the match momentum but create nothing of note and restrict Palestino to one shot. So Paranaense cruised to Rasamu’s first Copa Libertadores Final in unconvincing fashion.

Série A Title Push?

Merino had Paranaense fans excited as he scored 16 minutes into his debut to inspire a 4-2 win at struggling Sao Paulo and take them level on points with Palmeiras and Flamengo. Bracamonte’s debut goal earned a 1-0 win at Sport and sparked a run of three wins without conceding. Pipoca’s brace earned a 3-3 at Botafogo and he opened the scoring before Bracamonte secured a 2-1 win over Bragantino. A trip to Palmeiras came three days before the Palestino first leg so Rasamu sacrificed a 3-0 loss. But a 3-0 win over Corinthians, in which Esdras ended an incredible 18-hour goal drought, gave them some hope.

A disappointing 2-1 loss at Goianiense killed off any title hopes as Flamengo beat Palmeiras 3-1 to move seven points clear. So Rasamu’s focus shifted to keeping his players fit for the Libertadores Final and, despite one win in the last seven, they qualified for Libertadores again by finishing 4th on 70 points.

Copa Libertadores Final

Rasamu had been dreading the prospect of playing Flamengo in the Final so he was delighted to see Corinthians score a 94th-minute goal to edge through 5-4 on aggregate. A month on from the semis, 44,000 Brazilian fans descended on Asunción’s General Pablo Rojas stadium. Corinthians were aiming to win their second Libertadores, after winning it in 2012 and being runner-up in 2025 and 2036, while Paranaense were hunting their first after four Final defeats in 2005, 2022, 2028 and 2030.

Rasamu had Aguilar just about fit from injury so his big headache was who to play in attacking areas. And he eventually lined up:

de Moraes; Brunet, Evaldo, Yago, Carlos; Aal, Pena Barcelos, Fábio, Eduardo; Pipoca, Bracamonte
Subs: Aguilar, Santos, Aldo, Pauleta, Esdras, Ney, Vinicius, Rafinha, Barros, Merino, Felipe, Castro

Paranaense started brightly as Pipoca forced a fine save after eight minutes. But he made no mistake 33 minutes later as Bracamonte dropped deep and lofted a delicious throughball for Pipoca to curl the ball into the top corner from 18 yards out. They let Corinthians back into it immediately after the break with virtually their first attack but Pipoca was at it again 15 minutes later, latching onto Fábio’s pass to coolly slot the ball past the keeper. It soon seemed all but over as a superb flowing move from right to left ended up at the feet of Eduardo, who teed up Bracamonte to drill into the bottom corner.

However, the referee had other ideas, awarding a nonsense penalty from a corner. Rasamu obviously looked to waste time and thought it was all over. But, deep into injury time, they returned for a highlight from a wide free kick and everyone knew what was going to happen. But not like this. The ball was lofted to the far post where goalkeeper Wellington Carioca was unmarked and headed in the equaliser. Absolute heartache. Rasamu and his players were broken. And they couldn’t recover. As Corinthians went and scored a 115th-minute winner. Devastating. Broken. Football is cruel. And the wait for Libertadores went on in the most heartbreaking fashion.

This hurt like nothing Rasamu had ever experienced in football. His players had worked so hard but, ultimately, their shaky defence had yet again cost them in the most painful way imaginable. He had to wonder if this was their one big opportunity wasted. But all they could do was pick themselves up and go again next season.

The main positive to take away, yet again, was Pipoca, who led the way with 34 goals in 44 games followed by Aguilar (23), Fábio (16), Aal (15) and Esdras (12). Eduardo was the top assister with 18 then Aal (14), Rafinha (11) and Fábio and Ney (10). But Rasamu again had serious questions about the performances of some of his players and, in particular, a huge dropoff in form at the end of the season.