Thirteen seasons into his tenure at Retrô Futebol Clube Brasil, manager Robinho Lazaró was heralded as the mastermind behind the club’s meteoric 20-year rise from non-existence to champions of South America. Lazaró joined in the celebrations across Camaragibe as seemingly the entirety of northeast Brazil took to the city’s streets, amid parties that lasted for days.
Lazaró eventually dragged himself away from the festivities and treated his backroom staff to a few days away in a jungle hideout, allowing them to relax and recharge the batteries. Feeling very zen, Lazaró got back to work on 3 Janaury 2037, which began with facing some serious transfer offers. And that, unfortunately, saw them lose star midfielder Ricardo, who understandably got unhappy when Europe’s big boys came calling, for a club record £40m – and he instantly became Barca’s starting AM. Lazaró also moved on increasingly troublesome centre back Roberto Cuero to Cruz Azul for £5m and a few players he didn’t feel were up to it, including backup striker Nicolás La Luz to Club América for £3m, winger Demetrius to Mirassol for £1.1m and centre back Walace to UAE side Fujairah for £1m.
Those deals saw the club’s bank balance soar past £200m for the first time to £230m, along with £88m in the transfer kitty that Lazaró couldn’t even dream of spending. He did, however, add some exciting signings in left back Umit Can Kurtulan on a free transfer from Galatasaray and centre backs Amaro Burboa for £1m from Colo Colo and Márcio Ferracciú for £3.1m from Santos.
Lazaró stuck with his successful 4-3-3 approach, with versatile Crotian midfielder Marko Grgur Zubcic coming in on the right, the exciting Tunisian Aymen Smaoui stepping into Ricardo’s playmaker role and Wesley Martins finally becoming a first-choice centre back. And Lazaró believed this side was potentially even stronger than last season.
A Second Brazilian Title Defence
Retrô passed 70 games unbeaten in Pernambuco State, which began with striker Matheus de Oliveira scoring back to back braces and Ricardo following suit in his final game for the club, which they won 4-1 at Central. They cruised past Maguary 6-1 on aggregate in the semis, before thrashing Náutico 6-1 and a rotated side drew 0-0 away to win a 6th successive state title. de Oliveira set a new league goalscoring record with 14 in 9, winger Ricardo Cavalcante broke his own record with 9 assists and an 8.16 average rating and won the Best Player award, while Smaoui was named the best rookie. Lazaró added more silverware with the club’s first Supercopa do Brasil, courtesy of Nicolás Pino and Joílson defeating Sao Paulo 2-0, before a 7-0 aggregate thumping of Santos secured their first Recopa Sudamericana.
Retrô’s Série A title defence began with a host of players on international duty, but a late Joílson strike nicked a 2-2 at Fluminense before a drab 0-0 at home to Internacional. Smaoui, de Oliveira and Rafinha got them back on track with a 3-0 win at Gremio before Rafinha’s brace inspired a 5-0 hammering of local rivals Sport Recife. A solid 2-0 win at home to Corinthians was followed by a poor 3-0 defeat at Goiás. But Smaoui got them back on track with a brace in a 4-1 demolition of Botafogo before scoring the only goal at home to Fortaleza. But a fairly iffy start saw them sitting 8th after 12 games.
Retrô Take on the World’s Best
Retrô’s fixture chaos was added to by heading to Morocco for the FIFA Club World Cup. And, unsurprisingly, they were reacquainted with Ricardo as they got a group alongside Barcelona, Club América and Saudi’s Al-Ahli. They began with the most winnable game against Club América, and delivered exactly what was required as Alex, Cavalcante, Ézio Pinto, André and de Oliveira secured a big 5-0 win. Ricardo, Lamine Yamal and Barcelona were up next, but a Pinto brace saw them surprise all the odds in a shock but deserved 4-2 victory. And even a rotated team managed o defeat Al-Ahli and former striker Scumbag Ruiz 3-1.
Winning the group was of zero benefit as Retrô drew Arsenal, while 2nd place Barca got Sporting.However, the young Brazilian side shone again as they held Arsenal to a 0-0, before Danilo Rodrigues saved 3 penalties to send his side through. A friendlier quarter final followed against fellow Brazilian side Sao Paulo, and they eased through to the semis with Godwill, Alex and Zubcic earning a 3-0 win. Liverpool were up next and, yet again against an English big boy, the defence worked wonders to hold them to a 0-0 and Rodrigues saved Monga’s penalty to claim a 5-4 spot kicks victory!
That teed up a surprise Club World Cup Final against the might of star studded Real Madrid. They made a flying start as a brilliant move ended with Cavalcante sending Pinto through to finish into the far corner from a narrow angle. Madrid dominated the game, but the defence held firm to go into the break 1-0 to the good. Seven minutes after the break, Alex missed a huge chance to double the lead from a brilliant André throughball, and Real’s domination looked to have finally paid off as Endrick crossed for Pradas tap in… only for VAR to intervene. The Spaniards continued to have half opportunities, going closest with a header that went well wide. And, somehow, Retrô held on for the most famous win in club history!
Little Retrô FC were the Champions of the World!
Cavalcante deservedly won the Best Player award after 7 assists and a 7.97 rating in 6 games, Pinto won Best Young Player with 4 goals, an assist and a 7.42 rating and Rodrigues won the Golden Glove thanks to 5 clean sheets in 6 games.
Returning to Domestic Matters in Red Hot Form
The Club World Cup success gave Retrô’s players a real boost. They returned to Série A with 4 successive wins, before a late Martins header earned a 2-1 victory over Flamengo and former striker Rodrigo Godinho, who found themselves way down in 10th place, and sent them top of the league for the first time after 19 games. That stuning form continued through to September, when a mass of international callups saw them struggle to a 4-1 defeat at Botafogo. However, with 10 games remaining, they enjoyed a 13-point lead at the top of Série A.
Smaoui returned to fire them to a 4-1 victory over Sao Paulo and a 1-1 at 2nd-place Santos kept them 16 points clear with 7 games remaining, and on the verge of consecutive titles. Alex scored the only goal at Vitória before a 1-1 draws at home to Vasco and at Coritiba secured another title – their 3rd in 5 years.
Retrô went on to wrap up the title by 16 points from Sao Paulo, while Palmeiras and Flamengo finished in 5th and 7th. They finished on 83 points after 25 wins, 8 draws and 4 defeats, scoring a league-high 82 goals and conceding a league-low 36. de Oliveira was the 3rd top scorer with 19 in 34, while Smaoui was 14th with 11 in 22 but was the best player in he league with a 7.49 rating, and Cavalcante reclaimed his league assists record from Ricardo with a new league record 21, as well as the most key passes with 154 and chances created with 45 (7, 43 and 10 more than anyone else). Retrô had by far the most shots (743), shots on target (335), chances created (175), xG (78.89) and crosses completed (266). As a result, Smaoui won the Player of the Year, Best Foreign Player and Rookie of the Year, Lazaró won another Manager of the Year and the club also won the fair play award.
Maiden Copa Libertadores Defence
South American champions Retrô got a favourable Copa Libertadores draw alongside Uruguay’s Juventud, Paraguay’s Olimpia, Racing Club of Argentina. The group began with de Oliveira scoring twice in a 6-1 dismantling of Olimpia before Alex’s late goal, his first goal contribution of the season after 10 games, secured a 3-2 win at Racing and he scored again in a 3-1 win in Uruguay. Qualification was secured thanks to de Oliveira’s double downing Juventud 2-1, before rotated sides lost in Paraguay but impressively defeated Racing 2-1 thanks to a first senior goal by promising winger André Fubá.
Liga de Quito were dismissed 8-3 on aggregate in the second round before edging past Gremio on penalties in the quarter final, thanks to a de Oliveira brace in the home leg. Another Brazilian opponent followed in the semis, and Alex earned an away draw before Smaoui, Pinto and Zubcic earned a 3-0 home victory to send them back to back finals.
This time, their opponent in the Final was Flamengo and former star graduate Godinho, and 48,000 Brazilians descended on Venezuela’s Metropolitano de Lara (again). Lazaró had a clean bill of health, so lined up:
Rodrigues; Eduardo, Martins, Pino, Godwill; Andre; Zubcic, Alex, Smaoui, Cavalcante; de Oliveira
Subs: Castro, Hormoza, Cláudio, Pinto, Joílson, Rafinha, Umit Can, Feijao, García, Guaraná
Retrô made a flying start as Smaoui teed up André to hit a sweet 25-yarder into the bottom corner after 7 minutes. Flamengo offered nothing in the first half and they went into the break a goal to the good. Godinho was introduced just after the hour mark and offered even less as a tame match trundled to a 1-0 result.
Retrô FC secured consecutive Copa Libertadores successes!
That success took Retrô back into the Intercontinental Cup competition in early December. That began with Zubcic bagging a brilliant hat trick as they cruised past Cruz Azul 5-0 in the Derby of the Americas. Next up was Al-Nassr in the Challenger Cup Final, and André and Zubcic earned a 2-1 victory. That teed up a Club Intercontinental Championship Final clash with PSG, for which they unexplainably had 3 players on international duty, but delivered a wonderful performance to win 3-0 through de Oliveira’s early header and late Rafinha and Joílson strikes.
An Unheralded Season of Success
The latest success saw Retrô claim a famous and unheralded season littered with nine trophies, as they claimed Pernambuco State, Supercopa do Brasil, Recopa Sudamericana, Série A, Copa Libertadores, Derby of the Americas, Challenger Club and Club Intercontinental Championship.
Cavalcante obliterated Ricardo’s club record of 28 assists in a season, notching up an incredible 46 in 65 games. de Oliveira also set a new goalscoring record of 48 in 68 games, surpassing Godinho’s tally of 36 in 52 back in 2029. Smaoui was superb with 19 goals and 18 assists and a club-high 7.50 rating, while Alex scored 18 with 10 assists, Rafinha scored 13 with 10 assists, Zubcic scored 20 with 9 assists, Pinto scored 12 with 18 assists and Joílson and Adilson Castro also scored 12 apiece.
Smaoui became the first Retrô player to win NxGn in March 2037, with Zubcic 5th and homegrown centre back Cláudio 12th, and came 2nd to PSG’s sensational Turkish centre back Ramazan Yilmaz in FIFA Best U21 Men’s Player. However, they had a disappointing youth intake with 5 top players led by goalkeeper Magnum. They join the latest Ginga rating tracker, which is led by Smaoui (78), Pinto, Castro and midfielder Isaac Ismail (77), Rafinha (74), Cavalcante (73), Goodwill (72) and de Oliveira (70).
Retrô had set a pretty high bar this campaign with arguably one of the greatest seasons of all time. But could Lazaró keep this exciting group of players together and could they continue to dominate in Brazil and South America? Join us next Monday to find out!
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