Salvando Santos | Part 14 | A Seven-Star Santos Bottle Job

Santos FC enjoyed one of their best-ever seasons in 2034, winning both their state championship and Série A before only dodgy goalkeeper injuries and a dodgy penalty prevented them from winning Copa Libertadores. Legendary manager Robinho Lazaró took a little time out to celebrate those successes and recover from a wild year that also included winning the World Cup with Brazil.

His first action was to transfer list goalkeeper Vitor Hugo, who cost them Copa Libertadores, and somehow got £5m from Mexican side Tigres. He also took the bold decision to sell club-record goalscorer Marcos Aurélio, who scored 182 in 322 league games and also went to Mexico with América for £4.6m. More exits followed as he sold backup attacker Nílton to Saudi for £15m, Luiz Fernando, who played 324 league games since coming through the academy in 2024, to Galatasaray for £4.9m, Richard Farias to Saudi for £8.75m, Marcelo Pereira to Monaco for £8.25m, striker Vitinho to Mirassol for £7.5m and midfielder Richard Gomes Filho to another Mexican side Cruz Azi for £2.5m. And in July, he moved on underperforming goalkeeper Michael Mthimkulu to Salzburg for £4.2m.

Lazaró addressed his striker struggles by making a club record £15.75m move for his former Brazil striker Vinicius Maia from Gremio. Maia isn’t eligible for the Ginga rating, due to not coming through the club academy, but he comes in as the best player at the club and is a massive step up in quality. He’s joined by an exciting backup as 17-year-old striker Johnny Wiziack signed for up to £8m from América (MG). He also tapped into the club’s youth reserved to promote recent academy graduate centre back Marcos Antonio, attackers Marques and Rafaelzinho and midfielder Vilson Sirangelo.

Lazaró saw no need to change up his established narrow 4-3-3 approach. Maia comes in up top supported by Dimitri and wonderkid Bibi, Lucas Rosado returns to his natural midfield role and Antonio will get plenty of gametime alongside three Brazil international defenders Glaudestony Penchel, Rafinha and Rodrigo Passos.

Defending Both League Titles

Santos’ defence of their state championship crown began with a totally unfit side losing to Palmeiras. But they recovered with 5 consecutive wins, including Maia scoring and getting sent off on debut in a 4-0 thrashing of Portuguesa. Lazaró rotated heavily and they dropped off a little to finish 4th, and lost to Corinthians in the semis. However, they did win Suprcopa do Brasil for the 4rd time in 4 years with Maia, Rosado, Bibi and Charles securing a 4-1 win over Bahia.

Santos’ players got the rarity of some time off ahead of Série A, which showed as Maia scored the only goal in the opener at home to Corinthians. Maia scored again as Dimitri’s brace downed Vasco 3-2 and added his own brace in a 3-1 win over his former club Gremio. That began a flying start to the season, in which even a rotated team beat Flamengo 2-1 with a brace by midfielder Deivick Trivino. Santos seemed more ruthless than ever before as Bibi bagged a hat trick in a 6-2 thrashing of CRB, midfielder Gabriel, Bibi and Maia inspired a 3-0 domination of Palmeiras and Maia smashed 4 in an 8-2 thrashing of bottom-side Goianiense. Lazaró also celebrated his 800th game at Santos with a 3-1 win at Fluminense.

Santos were in unbeatable form halfway through the season, racking up a string of big wins, including 9 successive victories through June and July, before a rotated side finally suffered defeat at Bahia – who they then beat 4-0 at home a week later. That sparked a return to good form, including Maia’s hat trick downing Botafogo 3-0, that took Santos 14 points clear of Flamengo, who had 2 games in hand, with 10 games remaining.

Another Crack At Copa Libertadores

Santos licked their final defeat wounds with a favourable group alongside Argentina’s Racing Club, Ecuador wonderkid factory Independiente del Valle and Venezuelan side Caracas. They opened up with Bibi scoring twice in a 3-0 win at home to Caracas before a terrible performance to lose 3-0 at Racing. But they dominated Independiente 4-1 away and Bibi’s hat trick inspired a 7-2 thrashing at home before Charles scored the only goal in Venezuela. And a 1-1 at home to Racing saw Santos finish 2nd.

They still got a decent second round draw against América de Cali and took control as Maia’s brace led a 4-0 home win before easing through 1-0 away. That teed up a rival clash with Sao Paulo in the quarters and Trivino’s late double earned a 3-0 home victory before just sneaking through with a 2-0 away defeat. Elsewhere, River got revenge on holders Palmeiras for pulling their pants down in last season’s semis by battering them 9-0, then losing 4-1 away.

Another rival clash followed in the semis as Santos took on Corinthians, with the home leg taking place three days after their 7-0 embarrassment at Palmeiras. Santos got a good start as Penchel headed home an early corner but Corinthians completely dominated the game with 66% of the ball without really creating much. Yet they found Dirceu in much better form (which wasn’t hard) and the game was probably a little unfairly killed off by an absolutely wonderful Maia solo goal, running from the hallway line, beating five men and drilling the ball into the bottom corner from a narrow angle. And Maia delivered again with two second-half strikes to earn a 3-2 away win that sent his side into consecutive Libertadores Finals.

Santos Hit For SEVEN As They Seek 3 Successive Série A

Santos’ good form, predictably, came crashing down with a disgraceful performance as they got destroyed 7-0 at Palmeiras – who scored every single chance and from the kickoff of both halves.

Lazaró read his players the riot act after that absolute shambles and threw in rotated teams that battled to a 1-1 with Cruzeiro and a 3-3 at bottom-side Goianiense. And their rivals took advantage, leaving Santos 6 points clear of Palmeiras and 7 clear of Flamengo going into the final 5 games.

They made it four league games without a win with a tame 0-0 at home to 6th-place Coritiba, Penchel and Maia got them back on track in a 2-0 victory at home to 7th-place Independiente, but they were poor again as they relied on a late Charles goal to nick a pint at 15th-place Ceará. Really helpfully, they then had 8 players called up for international duty for the final home game against Fluminense. But Bibi put them ahead after half an hour before exciting 17-year-old midfielder Carlos Augusto’s first senior goal settled any nerves and they eased to a 3-0 victory.

Palmeiras had been in relentless form, only losing one league game since early June. But they slipped to a 3-3 draw at home to Internacional that ended their title chances. That meant Libertadores finalists Santos and Flamengo did battle for the title the week before everyone else finished the season. Santos needed a point at rivals Sao Paulo while Flamengo, chasing their first title since 2020, needed to win at Bahia and hope Santos lost, which would win them the title based on having won more matches.

Santos had Gabriel suspended for the final day but started brightly, and Dimitri missed a sitter after half an hour before Dirceu pulled off a fabulous save to prevent a 30-yard piledriver. But Santos’ dodgy defending returned as the increasingly shaky Rafinha passed the ball straight to the opposition winger to score in first-half injury time. A dubious penalty straight after halftime and some woeful finishing saw the bottlejob continue as Santos whimpered to a 2-0 defeat. And later that evening, Flamengo won 3-0 at Bahia to compound Santos’ woeful conclusion to the campaign and win their first title in 15 years.

Having won 23 of their first 30 games, Santos only won 2 of their final 8 matches to throw away the title to Flamengo – despite scoring more goals, conceding fewer and losing 4 fewer games. Santos finished 2nd with 85 points after 25 wins, 10 draws and 3 defeats, scoring 96 and conceding 38. Maia was the league’s top scorer with 26 in 32, Dimitri got the 2nd-most assists with 11, Dirceu got the 2nd-most clean sheets with 13 and Gabriel surprisingly was the best player in the league with a 7.52 average rating in 31 games.

Consecutive All-Brazilian Libertadores Finals

Santos faced a second all-Brazilian final in 12 months, as Flamengo defeated River 6-2 on aggregate. And, considering the two teams’ end to the league campaign, Lazaró was far from confident. 40,000 fans made the trip south to Campéon del Siglo in Montevideo to see the sides compete for South America’s ultimate glory. Lazaró had a clean bill of health but big decisions to make over out-of-form Dimitri, Rafinha and defender Uriel Santos. But he lined up:

Dircue; F Santos, Penchel, U Santos, Passos; Gabriel, Rosado; Augusto; Bibi, Charles; Maia
Subs: Mário, Hélder, Antonio, Rafinha, Dimitri, Trivino, Benítez, Marques, Wiziack, Vergueiro, Sirangelo, Lima

Santos bossed the early stages but, as per normal lately, wasted some big chances and found an opponent goalkeeper in inspired form. Lazaró fired them up at the break and they finally got their noses in front in spectacular fashion, as Charles nicked the ball back, passed to Passos who broke down the left and passed inside for Maia to smash a stunning 25-yarder into the top corner. They should have doubled the lead immediately with a superb counter attack, only for Maia’s shot to cannon back off the bar and the striker missed another huge chance 5 minutes later. Flamengo had winger harshly sent off for a second yellow on 75 minutes, and Santos killed the game off as Gabriel tapped home 2 minutes from time.

Santos won their 5th Copa Libertadores and their 2nd in 4 seasons under Lazaró!

Disappointment Lifted By Elation

Lazaró was understandably unhappy with his side crumbling at the end of the Série A season, but incredibly proud of their efforts to dust themselves off and win Copa Libertadores for the second time. The signing of Maia definitely delivered an attacking edge as he topped the Santos scoring charts with 38 goals plus 10 assists in 55 games. Bibi pushed him close with 25 goals and 11 assists, as did Charles with 22 goals and 15 assists, Trivino with a surprising 20 goals and Dimitri with 15 goals and 16 assists. However, an unlikely hero of the season was holding midfielder Gabriel, who delivered 10 assists and a club-high 7.37 average rating.

Dimitri continues to lead the Santos Ginga rating, improving his technique by 1 point to a new high of 81, followed by Bibi and Maia (79) and youngsters Marques (75) and Rafaelzinho and Wiziack (73). Dimitri was also one of two players to pass the 500 games mark for the club, with him moving on to 505 behind the 522 of Lucas Rosado, who’s become the first player to pass 400 league games, and Charles not too far behind on 486. Check out all the Santos’ players’ stats and attributes by clicking the chart below:

Santos consolidated their position as the best youth development setup in the world. The latest intake delivered a potentially exciting striker in Jairo Penafiel, along with attacking midfielders Flávio Augusto, Luiz Falcao and Lucas Conceicao, right back Rafael Borborema and another striker Ivo.

Lazaró was considering calling it a day after lifting his second Copa Libertadores. However, the disappointing nature of the title loss gave him fresh impetus to reclaim Série A for his beloved Santos supporters.

Could Santos recover from their Série A disappointment and reclaim the title in 2036? Join us next Monday to find out!