Athletico 100 years: Dirceu, the executioner

Literally, the Greek word Eudaimonia can be translated as the possession of the body by a “good demon”, if such a thing exists. Roughly speaking, the ethical-philosophical concept refers to the state of complete happiness achieved by the sum of man’s virtuous actions.

With any meaning, the word expresses what happened to the soul of the Atlético fan when he was introduced to Dirceu de Mattosthe executioner of the thighs in the glory year of 1990. Furacão had hired Kita to command their attack, but he was the silent Dirceu who decided that campaign.

Dirceu, in fact, scored the equalizer in Kita’s debut, assisted by the bearded man. Afterwards, he scored the winning goal in the first game against Paraná Clube. Then came the final octagonal games and, in them, the top scorer’s body was taken over by the good spirit that inspired the most virtuous attitudes and brought the athletic heart to complete happiness.

In the first round, Dirceu scored the winning goal against Batel. Weeks later, he scored both goals in the draw at Atletiba – the day I heard the famous version for the first time x-rated in Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd.

Speaking of music, in the first game of the final, the thigh-white fans were already counting down with Henricão’s version of the Cielito Lindo bolero. “Oh, oh, oh, oh, the time is coming…”, until Dirceu tied everything with the last ball.

In the days of dial-up internet, I wrote a text about how, at the age of 12, I saw the historic goal in the middle of the winter fog under the lights of Couto Pereira’s nightclub and so, for a second, I didn’t understand what had happened. Confirmation only came when I saw Dirceu’s toothy smile crossing the lawn.

In the decisive game, in the first Atletico attack, Dirceu had the virtue of making a brave fish and placing the first lump inside the thigh citadel – the game ended as you know.

In the following years, for the perpetual memory of the thing, the red and black fans adapted the samba “Recordar” (by Aldacir Louro, Adolfo and Aluísio Martins), a hit from the 1955 Carnival, and whenever the club faced its rival the people sang : “Remembering is living, Dirceu finished you off…”!