Salvando Santos | Part 11 | Santos Vs. The World’s Best

The streets of Santos, in Sao Paulo, witnessed one of the biggest parties in living memory as Robinho Lazaró and his young team of heroes returned home from Colombia as Champions of South America. The beer houses were chocked full and the Caipirinha flowed freely as captain Charles and fans’ favourite Marcos Aurélio paraded the Copa Libertadores trophy, and were seen downing beers with fellow icons Neymar and Thierry Henry.

The big positive about not winning the title was the Santos board relaxed their expectations, now wanting the side to challenge for Série A and Copa Libertadores rather than winning the lot. They also announced plans to expand Santos Stadium by 16,000 seats at a cost of £29m, so Santos will play the 2033 season at the 30,000-capacity Estádio Olimpico da USP, an unused stadium that was randomly built this year.

Lazaró moved on a few backup players and poor youngsters for a healthy £31m profit. That included left back Gonzalo Santos to Qatar for £10m, attacker Victor Morales to Gremio for £8.5m and midfielder Alison to Mexico for £7.25m. He was also forced to sell star centre backs Lucio Mino, who decided he wanted to play for a bigger club and was flogged to Saudi for £21m, and, in August, Matheus Forcato for a massive £60m to Man UFC. Santos was replaced by Joaquín Benítez for £7m from River and Lazaró promoted striker Vitinho, midfielder Deivick Trivino and defender Lincoln Vergueiro. And in August, he brought in River’s Uriel Santos for £7m to replace Mino and Forcato.

Lazaro stuck with his tried and tested narrow 4-3-3 approach. The established likes of Luiz Fernando and vice-captain Dimitri remain first choice, but Lazaró was keen to get more gametime into the likes of Richard Gomes Filho and, in particular, the exciting Bibi.

Taking The Fight Back To Palmeiras

Santos began the new season with more silverware as 3 Marcos Aurélio goals defeated Boca 3-2 on aggregate to lift Recopa Sudamericana. Santos began the state championship with a 2-0 defeat to Corinthians, but Bibi got the season going with a hat trick in a 4-1 win at Bragantino. That sent them on a great run, including Charles earning a 2-0 win at Palmeiras, only for a hugely rotated team to lose to Guarani in the quarters.

That gave Santos the rare treat of a month off domestic matters as Série A didn’t kick off until mid-April. They began Série A well with the rarity of a brace by holding midfielder Lucas Rosado then lost 2-1 at Flamengo, but Aurélio inspired comfortable home wins over Internacional and Fortaleza. They earned draws at Palmeiras and Corinthians but dominated Bahia and Coritiba and Vitinho’s brace in a 2-0 win over Vitória sent Santos top of Série A for the first time in June.

Copa Libertadores Defence

Santos’ defence of Copa Libertadores began with a tougher group alongside Bolívar, Fortaleza and Racing Club. They kicked off with Aurélio’s brace earning a 2-0 win at home to Fortaleza, then Bibi and Charles and another Aurélio brace earned the same results at Racing and at home to Bolívar. They qualified with Aurélio, Dimitri and Fernando goals securing a 3-1 win in Bolivia, before Bibi and Gomes Filho scored in a 4-0 win at Fortaleza and Vergueiro’s first senior goal and another from Bibi downed Racing 2-0 to finish the group with a perfect record. Santos breezed past Millonarios 4-1 on aggregate in the 2nd round but their defence ended with a bit of a whimper as they lost 3-2 to Botafogo in the quarters. Worse still, their rivals Palmeiras reached the Final and beat San Lorenzo 2-0.

Santos Head To The Club World Cup

The season was rudely interrupted by the South American champions heading off to India to play in the Club World Cup in June. And they couldn’t have wished for a much tougher group, alongside PSG, Dortmund and Qatari side Al-Sadd.

They began against PSG, who won their first Champions League last year and had the likes of Saliba, Wirtz, Rice, Martinelli and, of course, former Santos boy Izaquiel Penchel. But Santos got a huge fillip as Rice was sent off for a horror challenge inside 3 minutes and quickly took advantage as Dimitri’s cross was powered home by Aurélio. They were in dreamland after half an hour as Rodrigo Passos got down the left, skinned Saliba, and whipped the ball across for Charles to double the lead. It got even better after the break as Aurélio collected the ball from a free kick and smashed home from 25 yards.

Lazaró had to rotate for Dortmund, but they dominated the first half without converting. Adeyemi gave Dortmund an undeserved lead, but Santos responded. The group wrapped up against Al-Sadd and Santos again started on the front foot, peppering the goal with 24 shots in the first half while giving up 0, and took advantage with two superb Aurélio headers. Pereira added a 3rd, and they strolled to 1st place.

Santos still got a tough 2nd round draw against AC Milan, for which Richard Farias and Gabriel were suspended. Both teams missed early chances but Santos hit the front as Aurélio’s header was pushed into the path of Dimitri to tap in. They continued to boss the game and Rafinha’s cross was powered home by in-form Aurélio before Pereira and Fernando crowned a wonderful performance to win 4-1!

The defensive challenges continued as Rafinha and Forcato were suspended for the quarter final against Millonarios. Santos started well again and Benítez teed up Dimitri, who then won a penalty that Aurélio converted to ease them through 2-0.

It got really difficult in the semis as Santos took on Barcelona, who beat River on penalties in the quarters. Barca started brightly but Santos went in front as Dimitri’s brilliant through-ball put Charles in to slam home. They were in dreamland yet again as Aurélio’s header from a corner bounced for Charles to double up from close range. Barca’s heads went as Fort fouled Dimitri from an innocuous cross and Aurélio slammed home the penalty for a ridiculous win. Barcelona 0-3 Santos!

That sent Santos into their second World Club Cup Final, after losing to Barcelona in 2011 in the old format. They took on another European giant, Champions League runners-up FC Bayern, who had Lazaró’s former striker Machado and Lamine Yamal. Penchel was just about fit, but Lazaró lined up:

Mthimkulu; Rafinha, Farias, Forcato, Passos; Gabriel, Rosado; Charles; Fernando, Dimitri; Aurélio

Santos dominated the first half with 10 shots to 3 but couldn’t find a way past Seimen and nothing happened after the break so they went to extra time. Bayern forced a huge save out of Michael Mthimkulu with pretty much their first attack but took control and eventually led through Wanner. But Santos hung in there and delivered as Rafinha passed for substitute Marcelo Pereira to slam home the equaliser. And it went to penalties. Both teams scored their first 2, Mthimkulu saved from Wanner and Bibi held his nerve to smack his penalty in the top corner. But Trivino and Pereira missed the final 2 penalties.

Lazaró was gutted to lose on penalties but so proud of his players’ efforts to beat some of the best teams in the world. Aurélio was honoured as the tournament’s top scorer and best player as he scored 7 goals.

Playing Catch-Up

Santos returned from the Club World Cup in 6th place in Série A but with up to 6 games in hand. Most importantly, they trailed leaders Flamengo by 8 points with 4 games in hand and were 5 points behind Palmeiras with a game in hand. Their first game back was at home to Flamengo and Aurélio’s penalty earned a 1-1, but necessary rotation led to heavy defeats at Internacional and at home to Paranaense.

Charles had been struggling domestically but scored the only goal at Cruzeiro and a brace in a 3-1 win at Mirassol. Aurélio scored his 150th Santos league goal in a 3-0 win at home to CRB, at the same time as Palmeiras lost at Sao Paulo, which dragged Santos bag into the title race ahead of two big rival clashes. First up, Bibi and Luiz Fernando, who was retraining as a holding midfielder to accommodate the youngster, secured a huge 2-0 win at home to Palmeiras. Three days later, a tired side – unsurprising given this was their 59th game of the season – lost 1-0 at Corinthians and lost Fernando to a broken leg. But in that game, Lucas Rosado became the all-time record league appearances holder as he played his 314th game for Santos, and he’s still only 24!

Santos eventually caught up with their rivals and went top of Série A for the first time with a 3-2 win over Cruzeiro, which saw the top 5 separated by 6 points with 10 games remaining. Aurélio continued his fine form by scoring in wins over Bahia, Ponte Preta, Gremio and Ituano, just about putting his side in pole position, with the top 4 split by just 2 points going into the final 5 games.

Game 1 – Vitória (12th, away): Aurélio continued his good form by heading the winner in a 2-1 at Vitória. Flamengo lost for the first time in 3 months at Vasco, Palmeiras’ crazy schedule caught up with them as they lost 2-0 2-0 at Paranaense in their 10th match of October, but Corinthians won 2-1.

Game 2 – Sao Paulo (6th, home): Aurélio scored again as Santos cruised through their toughest remaining fixture, with Penchel and Dimitri goals crowning a 3-0 win. Flamengo and Palmeiras bounced back by putting 6 past Bragantino and Cruzeiro and Corinthians settled for 5-0 against Botafogo. So the top 4 were split by just 4 points.

Game 3 – Vasco da Gama (12th, away): The good form continued as an own goal, Aurélio and Charles secured a comfortable 3-1 win at Vasco. Palmeiras beat Mirassol 5-1, Flamengo won 3-1 at Paranaense But Corinthians lost 3-1 at Gremio. That left Santos 4 points clear of Palmeiras, who’d played a game more, and Flamengo and 5 points clear of Corinthians with 2 games remaining.

Game 4 – Bragantino (19th, home): Therefore, Santos could reclaim the Brazilian title by beating relegated Bragantino in the final game in their temporary home. They got a flying start as Aurélio clipped home Bibi’s throughball then crashed a header against the bar. Bibi eventually added a 2nd that helped his cruise to his 1st title and Santos’ 4th in 6 years. Santos won Série A!

Santos went on to win the league by 5 points, finishing on 89 points after 28 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 82 and conceding 28. Aurélio was the league’s top scorer with 23 in 31 and the best player with a 7.45 average rating and 8 MOTM awards. While Passos got the 2nd-most assists with 10.

Another Exciting Season At Santos

2033 had been a really mixed bag for Santos, but Lazaró was delighted with his team’s efforts against Europe’s big boys and winning a 4th title despite selling 2 key defenders for over £80m. Aurélio was a superstar this season, scoring an incredible 48 in 57 (but only 41 count towards his new club record), followed by Charles with 21 goals and 11 assists. Young Bibi also impressed with 13 goals and 9 assists along with Dimitri (13 goals and 13 assists), Pereira (10 goals and 12 assists), Rosado (9 goals and 6 assists), Fernando (8 goals and 6 assists), Passos (13 assists) and Rafinha (11 assists).

Aurélio’s impressive performances saw him become the first Santos player to be crowned Rey del Fútbol de América (King of Football in the Americas) since Marinho in 2020, Neymar in 2011 and 2012 and Pelé in 1973. He was also joined by Passos and Rosado in Equipo Ideal de América (South American Dream Team) and Bibi won the Brazilian Best U20 Player.

Dimitri increased his flair by a point to become the first Santos player to reach the 80 Ginga rating, closely followed by Pereira improving to 79. Rosado is the first player to pass 400 total games for the club and the likes of Charles, Dimitri and Aurélio aren’t too far behind him. Check all the players’ stats and ratings by clicking the chart here:

Despite those positives, the disappointing youth intakes continued as the latest contained only 4.5-star potential Rafael and 4-star attacker Marcelo Henrique, and neither looks overly exciting.