The biggest conquestThe Biggest Achievement

Alexander Correia Marques

INTRODUCTION

Atletico Mineiro is an important Brazilian Soccer team which is best known as Galo. Their fans love it! Whenever Galo plays in their city the stadium gets packed. Their most recent achievement was the “Libertadores da America” cup. This is the most important competition of South America and is the main victory the club has had in their history. Winning was hard and the matches were fantastic.

RULES FOR THE CUP

The libertadores cup has 32 teams divided in 8 groups of 4. The two best teams in each group are classified for eighth finals. The best team in every group plays with the worst team classified and the second best plays with the second worst and so forth. All 16 teams play at home and out of home. This stage is known as "mata mata" where every two weeks a team is eliminated until only the champion stays.

GROUPS PHASE

In the Group phase that Galo ended up in first place, having had the best campaign. The team was brilliant: people said that Galo was playing the best football. The other teams got scared when they played against Ronaldinho Gaucho, Tardelli, Bernard and Jo. All people said that Galo was going to win.

Eighth Finals

Sao Paulo played against Galo. The first match was hard and Sao Paulo was winning by 1x0 when the player Lucio (Sao Paulo) was sent off after committing a rough foul on Bernard. After that, Galo scored two Gols and won the match. A remarkable moment occurred when Ronaldinho Gaucho scored a Goal and cried out “Here’s Galo, Here’s Galo”

Quarter FinalsThis match was the most difficult of Libertadores Cup. Galo played against Tijuana (Mexico). In the first game, Galo was carried away. The Stadium had synthetic grass and the players felt the difference. Only in the last minute when the player Luan (Galo) scored and the game finished 2x2. For the home game Galo had the advantage of 1x1. The game was 1x1 and it was very exciting when the referee marked a penalty. The fans didn’t believe in what happened but when the Tijuana’s player kicked the ball Victor (Galo’s goalkeeper) did a fantastic defense with his left leg, the fans went mad, really insane! Galooooo doidoooooooo!. Galo was finally classified for semi finals.

Semi FinalsIt was against Newells old boys (Argentina), this team was considered the best of Argentina. The first match was very hard and Galo’s team didn’t play with the same vibration . The result finished in 2x0 for Newells. Since Galo was the best team of the phase groups, it needed a difference of two goals to be classified. For the home match Galo started very well and in the last 2 minutes Bernard scored: 1x0. When the match was almost finishing Guilherme (Galo's player) scored the second goal and the fans celebrated a lot. The game was going to be decided with penalty kicks, the score was 4x3 and the last penalty kick was done by Maxi Rodrigues (Newells’s player). He was very good but Victor did a fantastic defense. It was the first time that GALO was in the finals.

FinalThe big day came and the final match was between Galo and Olimpia-Paraguai. The first game was in Paraguay and one more time Galo didn’t play well, then Olimpia won by 2x0. The most important day in Galo’s history was the second match, Almost SIXTY THOUSAND PEOPLE were in Mineirão.Yes, 60,000!For Galo to win they needed to score two goals more than Olimpia. The first half finished in 0x0 and Galo’s fans were tense. The fans cried out“I believe……I believe”. In the second half Galo made their fans happy with two goals. The game should have finished with a score of 2x0 but it was extended. The two teams were very tired and the game was going to be decided with penalty kicks. It was fate. Last penalty kick, Galo’s victory. The celebration then started and at that moment the people were very emotional.

One time GALO.... Always GALO. I always believed.