- Palmeiras and Santos clash in today’s Copa Libertadores final
- We spotlight the two clubs and their rivalry
- Legends, titles and stats feature
The interviews
Libertadores finals
Palmeiras have appeared in four Libertadores finals, losing thrice in 1961, 1968 and 2000. A side including Marcos, Junior Baiano, Roque Junior, Junior, Cesar Sampaio, Zinho, Alex and Paulo Nunes beat Deportivo Cali to lift the trophy in 1999, before losing a tight game to Manchester United in the Intercontinental Cup.
Palmeiras also won the Copa Rio 1951, the first intercontinental club tournament. The eight-team event featured Austria Vienna, Juventus, Nacional and Sporting.
Santos have won three of the four finals in which they appeared. They were triumphant in 1962 and ’63, going on to beat Benfica and AC Milan in back-to-back Intercontinental Cups. Neymar then inspired victory over Penarol in the 2011 final, though Lionel Messi and Barcelona proved too much for them in the FIFA Club World Cup™ final.
The green king and the king of kings
Unlike many clubs, Palmeiras and Santos both have an undisputed greatest player of all time. Pele inspired Santos to 24 titles – including six Brazilian championships, two Libertadores crowns and two Intercontinental Cups – during an incomparable 18-year career at the Vila Belmiro.
Curiously, Ademir da Guia – another of Brazilian football’s best-ever players – is little-known outside the country’s borders because of Pele. ‘The Divine One’, indeed, played only 14 times for Brazil and in only one FIFA World Cup™ match – the third-place playoff at Germany 1974 – because ‘The King’ was considered to play in a similar position.
At club level, however, Ademir dazzled. Despite the presence of a star-stacked Santos, he was the leader of ‘The Academy’, an exhilarating Palmeiras side that won six Brazilian championships between 1960 and ’73.
Brazilian championships
Legendary players
Palmeiras
Heitor (1916-31), Oberdan Cattani (1940-54), Jair (1949-55), Julinho (1958-67), Djalma Santos (1959-68), Ademir da Guia (1961-77), Djalma Dias (1962-68), Dudu (1964-75, 1976), Cesar Maluco (1967, 1968-75), Luis Pereira (1968-75, 1981-84), Emerson Leao (1971-78, 1984-85), Leivinha (1971-75), Evair (1991-94, 1999), Cesar Sampaio (1991-94, 1999-2000), Mazinho (1992-94), Marcos (1992-2011), Roberto Carlos (1993-95), Edmundo (1993-95), Rivaldo (1994-96), Alex de Souza (1997-2000), Dudu (since 2015).
Santos
Araken Patusca (1923-29, 1935-37), Zito (1952-67), Pepe (1954-69), Dorval (1956-64, 1965-67), Pele (1956-74), Coutinho (1958-68), Mengalvio (1960-69), Gilmar (1961-69), Carlos Alberto Torres (1966-74), Edu (1966-76), Clodoaldo (1966-79), Serginho Chulapa (1983-84, 1986, 1988, 1989-90), Giovanni (1994-96, 2005-06, 2010), Leo (2000-05, 2009-14), Elano (2001-05, 2015-16), Robinho (2002-05, 2014-15, 2020), Neymar (2009-13).
The Clássico da Saudade
Dictionary: Saudade (Brazilian-Portuguese)
A deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one cares for and/or loves.
The fixture’s nickname, which can be very loosely translated as ‘The Nostalgia Derby’, came because fans missed the exhilarating clashes between the rivals during the 1960s, considered Brazilian football’s epochal height.
Palmeiras, Santos and the World Cup
Both clubs have had 24 players apiece named in Brazilian FIFA World Cup™ squads. Palmeiras trio Djalma Santos, Zequinha and Vava, and Santos septet Gilmar, Mauro, Zito, Mengalvio, Pepe, Pele and Coutinho, ensured tem of the Seleção’s 22 players at Chile 1962 came from the two teams.
Head-to-head deciders
Palmeiras and Santos have met in four finals, with the latter winning three of them: the Campeonato Paulista in 1928 and 1960 and the Copa do Brasil in 2015. O Peixe won the Paulista 2015 decider at O Verdão’s expense.
All four finals were extremely close, with two going to penalties and one requiring a play-off after two draws.