The loud bangs started around 2pm and they were still audible 12 hours later around the Southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. These mini-explosions were heard in the monied areas such as Moinhos, in the favelas and satellites of a city which has given the world Ronaldinho, Gilberto Silva, Anderson, Douglas Costa and Maicon. And they’re only the players who’ve played for Gremio, one of the two giant clubs here.
Half of “Happy Port”, home to 1.5 million and the ninth biggest city in Brazil, had reason to celebrate. It’s a football town with two rivals, the reds of Inter and the blues of Grêmio, who were crowned South American champions late on Wednesday evening after winning the Copa Libertadores away in Buenos Aires. Two spectacular goals meant a 2-1 win in Lanus in Argentina to add to the 1-0 home victory.
Over 30,000 watched the game on screens in the Grêmio Arena, while thousands more were glued to the game at parties at fan parks around the city. Support for Grêmio and Inter cuts across colour, class and creed.
Rio Grande do Sul, with its clear European influences, is relatively wealthy. Three of the world’s most famous supermodels – Giselle Bundchen, Alessandra Ambrosio and Raquel Zimmermann – are from the state. German and Italian is still spoken. There’s a small independence movement to take the state and neighbouring wealthy states away from Brazil.
For their part, Grêmio play up the English heritage of their kits made by Umbro, a Manchester company. Grêmio’s original kit was inspired by the colours of Exeter City. The kits of both Manchester clubs compete for space with those of Grêmio and Inter in the local stores.
Fans arrived early before the final setting up of the churrasqueira barbecues that are a big deal in this part of South Brazil – for many a man prides himself on his ability to make an excellent churrasqueira.
Five thousand fans also travelled south to Argentina, half of them by bus on an 18-hour road trip each way across the Pampas, Uruguay and the immense River Plate. Buses are comfortable in South America, with the best having three seats across and beds.
The first Grêmio fans’ bus had its windows put through and there was a graffiti warning on the gates of the away section stating, “Die here Gauchos!” But it only takes one idiot one minute to spray such a threat, just as it only took one Grêmio fan a minute to post a message on social media picturing his arsenal of guns which he said he was taking south to the game. Violent incidents were isolated, though a Grêmio ball boy running after the Lanus goalkeeper and threatening to kick him near the end of the first leg didn’t help the mood.
The travelling Grêmio fans stood on a steep terrace that it would have been immediately condemned by Lord Justice Taylor. It was like staging the European Cup final at Stoke’s old Victoria Ground, but La Fortaleza Stadium in a southern suburb of the Buenos Aires’ sprawl was bouncing with noise. It was the first Libertadores final for Lanus, an established top-flight team but not a giant like River Plate, San Lorenzo (Lanus eliminated both on the way to the final), Boca Juniors, Estudiantes, Independiente or Racing.
That, too, would be like Stoke reaching the Champions League final, but Lanus “did a Leicester” in 2016, winning the league. It was their sixth major honour.
The Libertadores final is staged over two legs rather than a one-off like the Champions League.
Ten different clubs have won it in the last ten years, with 18 different teams playing in the final from seven countries. The Champions League has had six winners from four countries in the last decade, with only nine clubs featuring in the final. By contrast, Grêmio’s neighbours Inter and Boca Juniors, the most successful club in South America, are the only team to have won the Libertadores more than once in the noughties. The spread of victors is impressive but it’s hard for them to stay at the top, with so many European vultures waiting to pick off their best players.
Inter shirts were hard to spot around Porto Alegre on Wednesday. Normally, it’s 50/50. The clubs are proud that they’ve both been South American and world champions. Massive flags used to celebrate that outside the airport. They play in huge new 55,000-capacity venues that were rebuilt for the World Cup, though only Inter’s, by the picturesque waterside rather than Grêmio’s, by a favela, was used as a venue.
This current Grêmio team are set to finish third in Brazil’s top-flight, a league where Sao Paulo-based Corinthians have again dominated. Chapecoense managed to finish ninth from 20 teams in the year after their squad was decimated by an air crash.
Interest for Grêmio has come in the Libertadores, where average home attendances for their last four games has been above 50,000 – twice their league average. Inter, surprisingly relegated to the second division but set for a return next year, do slightly better.
Grêmio’s fine young players are likely to be picked up by Europe’s M&Ms, the giants in Manchester, Munich, Milan or Madrid. Arthur is a 21-year-old Iniesta-like midfielder who recently had his first call-up to Brazil’s senior squad.
Luan, 24, a striker who this year made his full international debut for Brazil, was voted the best player of the 2017 Libertadores. He scored the second goal in Lanus, dancing around defenders before shooting and running to the away end.
The first goal was even better as veteran Fernandinho broke from his own box, picked up the ball in the middle of his own half, ran past two defenders and shot from the edge of the Lanus area. Gremio’s goalkeeper, local boy Marcelo Grohe, is excellent and experienced. Ditto central defender Geromel and striker Cicero, 33, who scored the only goal in the first leg. They won’t go to Europe, but they’ve helped build a platform for the younger players who will.
Their coach Renato, in his third spell as boss, became the first Brazilian to win the competition as a player and coach at the same club. He suggested a public holiday in Porto Alegre.
It was the third time Grêmio have been crowned South American champions, the first since 1995 when Felipe Scolari was their boss. They go almost immediately to Abu Dhabi and the Fifa World Club championship, where they would be expected to meet Real Madrid in the final. They’re likely to have far more travelling fans than Madrid, since the competition is of maximum importance in South America. When Inter played in Abu Dhabi in 2010, 10,000 travelled halfway around the world – albeit when Brazil was booming economically. Chelsea took 700 to the tournament in Japan in 2012; Manchester United 1,000 in 2008, also to Japan.
“People sold their cars to pay for the trip to Abu Dhabi… their furniture and their pets,” said Inter fan Roberto Behs. “If you weren’t going then you felt you were missing out because the people who’d been in 2006 and saw the victory against Barcelona told them it was the greatest trip ever.”
Grêmio fans returning with hangovers from Lanus today will hold a similar opinion. They’ll already be thinking about Abu Dhabi.
