It was written and so it was done: Athletico champion in the centenary

It was written: in Baixada, with 37 thousand fans, the Athletico would beat Maringá and would win the state title in 2024. And so it was done: a classic 3×0 and, finally, playing football that marks a great champion.

There are facts in life that seem like they were written centuries ago and when they happen they are as if they were biblical messages. This Furacão title is one of those facts: because he would already be extraordinarily superior to all the others in the year of his centenary (2024), he would be champion.

But it wasn’t as easy as you might imagine. As in every secular script, and in football when it comes to Athletico, there is a shift between doubts and certainties that go hand in hand in the search for the final chapter.

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And this script was faithful to the athletic history itself. From the mistakes made by the football team with the speculative and irresponsible signings of the eccentric coach Juan Carlos Osorio and a bunch of players represented by Lucas Di Yorio, to the desperate measures that took coach Cuca from his exile from Santa Felicidade. And then, Cuca, Pablo and Bento, who seem to have come out of sacred books, simply saved the centenary title.

The last image was from the Baixada game, 3-0 against Maringá: impeccable. If it were a work of art nailed to the wall, it could well be attributed to Poty Lazzarotto, who in March 2024, completed 100 years of life as his favorite club.

The biggest crowd in Paraná was in the stands, showing that pride and passion have external beauty. And on the field, against a severe and abrasive Maringá, a well-chosen, well-ordered Hurricane, giving a recital of modern football that is supportive, serious and, at times, conservative. In this game, Cuca showed his greatest virtue as a coach: being a coach without the vanity of the modernists, he stands out for his virtues informed by his natural attributes and those formed in the execution of his life. With Cuca, football becomes simpler, more beautiful and decisive.

Pablo, a name of Spanish origin “Paulus”, means “small” and “humble”. Pablo, from Athletico, was so extraordinary and his goals were so decisive, that he could well mean the “boy” who is in the arms of “Madonna”: great.

And Bento. Simply a goalkeeper, but the greatest of all from the greatest of all in Brazil.

Once this story was written, it was done.