Grêmio is the Brazilian runners-up in the Libertadores; Santos is Out!

By: Bruno Romani | June 6th, 2007

Santos won by 3-1 at the Vila Belmiro, but Grêmio is in the finals!

Grêmio scored first with Diego Souza, but Santos came back with Renatinho (2x) and Zé Roberto.

Update:

Santos and Grêmio battled at the Vila Belmiro both for a chance to play the final of the Copa Libertadores for the 4th time. Santos with the tradition of being a technical team and Grêmio to play with the heart. Both clubs that saw close rivals, São Paulo and Internacional, to accumulate recent glories in the tournament. Any doubts that this match could make even the more skeptical breathless?With 3 minutes into the game, Renatinho forced keeper Saja to make a difficult save. Expectations started to grow, and Pelé, who was at the Vila, watched everything attentively, as if waiting for a chance to get into the pitch and help his beloved club. But with 20 minutes, the Immortal Tricolor, the fierce warrior, did it again. Diego Souza got an incredible shot that could not be reached even by Fábio Costa’s luck in important moments. Grêmio 1 – 0!

The stadium was in silence. Santos, club with just one loss in the tournament, needed to comeback to a 4-1 to advance to the finals, but it became numb, just waiting for the KO. The home team had possession but did not finalized. Until a ball was crossed, Grêmio’s defender and a player from Santos fought for the ball in the air, and the precious sphere looked for Renatinho again. 1-1! Santos was back in the game, and the fans started to believe.

The second-half started with such a dense atmosphere that the air could be cut with a knife. Santos grew like a giant, honoring the famous white-shirt, but to shot on goal was not an easy task. Grêmio is the most Argentine of Brazilian clubs, and it locked its defense with bravery and blood. With the strength of a club that was relegated to the second division in 2004 and now fights for a place in heaven.

But destiny chooses its heroes of the day. Confusion in Grêmio’s box and Renatinho – again - scored with his butt with still 30 minutes to go. Any questions the kid who was even supposed to be playing was the chosen one? Somebody just forgot to tell his body that. He asked Luxemburgo to be substituted. Too much effort. Tired.

All the hopes moved to another character. Zé Roberto, the super-star who finally got the respect of his countrymen, fought, struggled, tried to create a moment of magic. Fans started to look at him with suspicion. Maybe he was going to bend over to the importance of this match. Wrong. Another ball crossed. Another confusion in the area. Zé Roberto shoots. Goal!

Santos had 15 minutes to score the savior goal. Too bad time moves too fast in those situations. And Grêmio is hungry for glories despite the shortage of real talent in its roster. A hungry club is all that players need to transform limitations into courage. For 15 minutes the clubs battled. An epic. At the end, Grêmio survived, but Santos is far from facing dishonor.

Luxemburgo failed again in an international competition, but he says he doesn’t care. Zé Roberto still on the pitch said good-bye to Santos’ fans. He is moving back to Europe. And Grêmio now waits for Cucuta or Boca Juniors to write one of the most passionate chapters of its history. It was memorable and Brazilian. Conmebol, don’t change the brackets again!