Scenes of jubilation from Rio de Janeiro to Lyon. John Textor and Botafogo won their first Copa Libertadores by beating Atlético Mineiro 3-1 after a completely crazy final. The Carioca team had however been reduced to 10 from the first seconds of play. Transcended by the context, Gregore took a stupid red card for wiping his crampons on the neck of the Argentinian Fausto Vera.
Atlético, buoyed by the unreal strikes of former Brazilian international Hulk, never seemed able to take advantage of their numerical superiority despite big opportunities for the green man. And was punished twice in the first period by Luiz Henrique.
Atlético Mineiro missed their chance
The striker, who played for Betis Sevilla, who could soon join OL, another club in the Textor galaxy, opened the scoring by taking a shot from the left that was poorly repelled by the opposing defense. He was then brought down in the area by goalkeeper Everson, leaving former FC Porto full-back Alex Telles to convert the penalty.
Stunned before the break, Atlético regained momentum upon returning from the locker room, thanks to a headed goal from a corner by Eduardo Vargas, who had just come on.
The Chilean had two chances to equalize late in the match, but it was ultimately Junior Santos who had the last word to send Botafogo to paradise.
Botafogo can do the double
Botafogo belongs to the Eagle Football holding company, the company of American billionaire John Textor, also owner of Olympique Lyonnais in France, Crystal Palace in England and Molenbeek in Belgium.
The businessman thus sees one of his clubs win a major title for the first time, after having invested 70 million dollars this season to strengthen the squad of the Rio de Janeiro club, which had just returned to the first division when he bought it back in March 2022.
And Botafogo can still achieve a fabulous double: the team is leading the Brazilian championship with two days remaining.