Parabéns Flamengo! – Flamengo Crowned 2009 Brazilian Champions

Flamengo were crowned champions of Brazil for the first time in 17 years last weekend after coming from 1-0 down to beat Gremio 2-1 in the Maracana stadium. A first half equaliser from David cancelled out Gremio’s opener scored by Roberson, and the scores remained 1-1 through half time and into the middle of the second half.

With the teams around Flamengo doing their job the rubro-negro had to win and wracked nerves came as standard in a packed, 85,000 strong Maracana. However, in the 69th minute Ronaldo Angelim popped up to nick the winning goal with a header from a corner and Flamengo held on to win the sixth national league title in their history.

Joy, tears and celebration enveloped the stadium at the final whistle, as you will see in the below video, as coach Andrade’s side carried out their part of the deal on the final day’s proceedings in the 2009 Brazilian national championship. As I mentioned in the 2009 Campeonato Brasileiro final day preview, though facing the psychological difficulty of a must-win game, it worked in Flamengo’s favour that they were up against a Gremio team with a bad away record and a fanbase desperate for their side not to create any upsets in Rio which might effectively hand the title to bitter rivals Internacional. However, Gremio put up a decent fight of it in the end and certainly didn’t roll over for Flamengo. Andrade’s men had to battle for this victory in front of their expectant fans and did so like the champions they now are.

Adriano, Pet, Ronaldo…

Flamengo’s 6th league title brings to an end a near perfect season for striker Adriano, who won a championship with his boyhood club in the first year since he left Italy weary and depressed back in April. The powerful striker was a hero to the supporters and a talismanic presence in the side, notching 19 goals in 29 games to finish joint top scorer in the division alongside Atletico Mineiro’s Diego Tardelli.

Another stalwart in the Flamengo team this season was Serb veteran Dejan Petkovic. Nicknamed ‘Pet’ by Fla supporters, Petkovic bucks the trend of players moving from South America to the holy grail of Europe by being one of the few to tread that path in the opposite direction. At 37 there were fears he was getting too old for the party in Rio, but Petkovic has been magnificent in recent months and got the assist for Angelim’s title-clinching goal on Sunday. “He may not be a young man but Pet proved he is still young in head and heart,” offered GloboEsporte in praise.

Another hero of the hour was Ronaldo Angelim, centre back turned goalscorer whose glancing header won Flamengo the title. On the back of that crucial goal, Angelim’s popularity has already blown up amongst Fla fans to the extent that a t-shirt has been produced with Angelim’s face on it and the words ‘There’s only one Ronaldo’ written in English.

This is a clever play on a story that broke out months ago when Ronaldo (O Fenomeno) moved to Corinthians. Corinthians supporters weren’t best pleased with t-shirts in Manchester that read ‘There’s only one Ronaldo’ an ode to Manchester’s own Cristiano while he was gracing Old Trafford, and so Corinthians fans made their own version championing their favourite Ronnie. Brazil’s Ronaldo is not the most popular of characters amongst Flamengo fans anyway after stringing the club along for ages before joining Corinthians in December 2008, so this Angelim t-shirt gag works perfectly.

The last time Flamengo won a national championship, the Ronaldo of Brazilian superstardom was just an unknown youngster on the books at São Cristóvão. 17 years is a long time to wait for such a well-supported club – just part of the reason Flamengo fans were out in full celebratory mode in the streets of Rio after Sunday’s game. In fact it was a pretty good day all round for football in Rio de Janeiro, as both Botafogo and Fluminense also did enough to avoid relegation and secure their positions in Brazil’s top flight for another season. And, of course, Vasco da Gama will be back next season having cruised through their season in Serie B.

Congratulations to Flamengo then, six-time champions of Brazil. Or in Portuguese – Parabéns Flamengo, Hexacampeão!

http://video.globo.com/Portal/videos/cda/player/player.swf

Adriano, Brazil, Brazilian Football, Flamengo, Gremio, Ronaldo Angelim