While Timão has been without a title for almost four years, Verão has collected eight cups in the period
Corinthians have not won a title for almost four years. The last one was the Paulistão 2019. During this period, Palmeiras lifted eight cups: Paulista (2020 and 2022), Campeonato Brasileiro (2022), Copa do Brasil (2020). Brazilian Super Cup (2022), Libertadores (2020 and 2021) and Recopa Sudamericana (2022).
Seven of the eight successes have had Abel Ferreira as coach. The exception was Paulista 2020, commanded by Vanderlei Luxemburgo, as Palmeiras beat Timão himself in the final. During this period, the alvinegro club had five coaches: Tiago Nunes, Vagner Mancini, Sylvinho, Vítor Pereira and now Fernando Lázaro.
In none of these seasons has the coach who started the year in charge of Corinthians been the same as the one who finished it. In 2019 Tiago Nunes started and Mancini finished. Vagner, in turn, was sent off early the following year, after Corinthian’s elimination in the Paulistão semi-final against Palmeiras. Sylvinho was the one who took over and finished 2020. However, the former winger, who was making his first job as a manager in Brazilian football, was sacked after three games in 2022. His successor has been Vítor Pereira, hired precisely so that Corinthians could follow the model adopted by their rival, and also with Jorge Jesus’ Flamengo, in 2019, and which worked.
However, Vítor was not as successful as the “patricians”. The Lusitano also led Timão to the Copa do Brasil final, but was defeated by Fla. The desire of the Corinthians managers was to continue working as a professional, but the coach himself chose not to renew his contract, citing problems family members and saying that he would return home. However, a few days later he signed with Rio de Janeiro’s Rubro-Negro, leaving a negative mark on Corinthians.
Now Timão is betting on Fernando Lázaro, an alternative that worked in the not so distant past, in 2017, when the management of the alvinegro club opted for the signing of Fábio Carille and in his hands the team was three times champion of the São Paulo (2017, 2018 and 2019) and Brazilian champion (2017). Like Carille, Lázaro trained as a coach at Corinthians, where he has worked since the turn of this century, with few interruptions, when he worked with Tite in the Brazil national team and Sylvinho in Lyon, France.
Fernando Lázaro is in his first job as an effective coach. He had already commanded Timão on a few occasions, but on an interim basis. As with Abel, when he started at Palmeiras, Lázaro was never a champion under the coach, but managed to achieve the feat in less than three months, just like the Portuguese did at Verdão. For that, he will have to beat Paulistão, who has the decision scheduled for April 9th.
ASSEMBLY OF THE PLASTER AND ASSESSMENT OF THE BASE
Another difference that rivals involved in Derbi have had in recent years is the way they have assembled their squads. Palmeiras, used to being a signing club since 2015, has started investing in its young players from 2020 onwards, such as: Renan, Danilo, Gabriel Menino, Patrick de Paula and Endrick, as well as others who have been asking for a move for some time , such as Garcia, Vanderlan, Fabinho, Giovani, etc.
Corinthians’ bet was to look for renowned athletes, even with identification with the club, but who were older. During the current administration, led by President Duílio Monteiro Alves, pieces such as Giuliano, Paulinho, Renato Augusto, Willian have arrived, all from abroad, with international baggage, but more than 30 years old. Some of them, especially Renato, make the difference when they are on the pitch, but physically they are compromised and need absences in some matches to control the load. Willian, for example, who arrived with high expectations, ended up leaving through the back door. And there is also Giuliano, who has never done what was technically expected, even if he had some flashes and showed his importance in the decisive moments, like in Corinthians second in the Copa do Brasil last year.
The fact remains that Corinthians has not taken advantage of the base in this period, also because the team has managed to promote some athletes who have gained space, such as Robert Renan, Du Queiroz, Adson and Gustavo Mantuan. However, they are far from occupying the space of protagonism that the offspring of the Academy had. The comparison is in the way some revelations from Palmeiras were negotiated, in relation to the Corinthians. Verdão raised more than R$500m with the sale of Danilo to Nottingham Forest, from England, and Endrick to Real Madrid, from Spain – with the latter only going to the merengue club in 2024, when he turns 18 . Even Patrick de Paula, who left Palmeiras through the back doors, after acts of indiscipline and lack of commitment, did not leave the Alviverde club for free. Verdão received R$ 33 million and still retained 50% of the economic rights of the athlete, who did not meet the objectives of the first year of his contract with Fogão, which would have forced the club to buy another 20%.
At Corinthians, Robert and Du had their rights transferred to Zenit, from Russia, so that centre-forward Yuri Alberto was bought outright. Timão didn’t invest any money in acquiring his number 9 shirt, but gave all the percentage he had of these two athletes to the Russians. The value that Zenit established for the sale of Yuri was 25 million euros (R$ 139.1 million, at current prices). Since Corinthians acquired 50% of the athlete’s rights, the record that remains is that 55% of the economic part concerning Robert Renan and 90% relating to Du Queiroz have been negotiated for 12.5 million euros (R$ 69.5 million, in the current quotation), which is half of the value that the Russians valued Yuri Alberto.
Even with nearly R$1 billion in debt, the great goal of the Corinthians board is to place the alvinegro club in the top tier of Brazilian football. The understanding is that they are looking for clubs with greater financial power and deposited investments, such as Atlético-MG, Flamengo and Palmeiras himself.
Source: Terra
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