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.
Roberto Lazaró joined in the Champions League celebrations for a few days before returning to work to start plotting how to close the gap to the mighty Real Madrid and Barcelona, who'd shared the last 7 Spanish titles.
Robinho Lazaró was given the ultimate honour of any Football Manager as he became the Brazil boss in August 2030.
Santos Futebol Clube racked up consecutive Brazilian titles for the first time since the good old days of the 1960s as Robinho Lazaró and his team of talented youngsters again pipped Palmeiras to the Serie A crown.
The big two of Barcelona and Real Madrid seemed near-invincible as they both racked up over 100 points in 2029/30. And, despite Valencia having the best 2 players in the league, they finished a massive 27 and 29 points behind the pair.
Santos Futebol Clube departed their 114-year home Vila Belmiro on a high, winning the club's first-ever league and cup double before an exciting move to a brand-new stadium for the 2031 campaign. But that success saw the pressure ramp up on manager Robinho Lazaró.
Valencia CF had established themselves as the best of the rest in Spain after six seasons under Roberto Lazaró. However, the dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona and the lack of a goalscorer had the manager concerned about how he could take the club to the next level.
Santos FC suffered a fairly unsurprising dropoff in 2029 as they backed up a first Brazilian title in 24 years by dropping to a 6th-place finish, 25 points behind champions Palmeiras. But manager Robinho Lazaró was choosing to remain optimistic given the talent they had coming through the ranks.
Atalanta BC shocked Italy as their superstar attack of Ronaldo, Raúl, Álvaro Recoba, Vincenzo Montella, Domenico Morfeo and Juan Román Riquelme blitzed them to a maiden Serie A title with 128 league goals in 1999 (2028). And those exploits saw Montella and Recoba installed as Atalanta legends.
Italian football saw seismic change as a young Atalanta side established itself as the 2nd best in Serie A in 1998 (2027). Their massive overperformance saw the vultures yet again circling their best players, clearly cognizant of the club's dreadful finances, but things were about to get very exciting in Bergamo.
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