Athletico 100 years: Nilson Borges, the beloved

In my 45 years of breathing the Athletico, I have already met people who dispute the achievements of President Mario Celso Petraglia. That says that Sicupira and Caju weren’t all that or that Alex Mineiro just had a good phase. But I’ve never met an athlete who didn’t love Nilson Borges.

The popular Bocão is the player most identified with red-black history. After all, there were 53 years of total dedication to Hurricane. For more than half of the club’s lifespan, we were lucky to have Nilson Borges sharing his knowledge with our young talents, putting out some internal fire that only he noticed, giving his thunderous laugh to infect the environment in good times and bad. .

Nilson Borges arrived at Athletico in 1968, as one of the talents hired by Jofre Cabral e Silva, in that revolutionary year. He was a great left winger. He had dribbling, strength, speed and knew how to shoot. Above all, he had the grace that made him immediately endear himself to the fans. He was Sicupira’s great partner, with whom he shared the lead in the 1970 title, even after suffering a serious collarbone injury at the start of the championship.

The two friends were also the stars of one of the biggest games in the club’s history, Atletiba won 4-3, in 1971, in which Nilson missed a penalty, scored two goals, was shot by white thigh rockets and it rained in the old Belfort Duarte.

Nilson prematurely ended his playing career because of a knee injury, at the age of 33. Since then, he started working at Athletico, both in the youth teams and in the professional team, as assistant coach and interim coach.

He was present in all the good and bad moments of half of the club’s life. In the winning cycle of the CAP in the 21st Century, from the Brazilian championship in 2001 to the second Copa Sudamericana title in 2021, the beloved Bocão finally managed to earn some money in football. His death in 2021 put the athletic nation in mourning, but his legacy of love for Hurricane will be eternal.