While the European powerhouses resume the battle for the Champions League this week, the prize theyâÂÂre all after is taking a break in Brazil. The big-eared cup was exhibited in São Paulo last weekend, the first stop in its Latin America tour. Next Saturday and Sunday it will melt (well, not literally - itâÂÂs always good to make things clear after what we did with the Jules Rimet) in Rio de JaneiroâÂÂs 40ú C heat. Then it will dash to Argentina, Chile and Mexico.
Watching the wealthy circus created around the symbol of EuropeâÂÂs world football dominance (at least economic), I couldnâÂÂt help comparing it to our own version of the Champions League, the Copa Libertadores da America - which just kicked off its 49th edition with the presence of 36 squads from 11 countries.
If the Champions League is all about elegance, glamour, professionalism and sophistication, South AmericanâÂÂs top club continental tournament is exactly the other way around. Brutality, roughness, crudeness and intimidation are words that can describe the core of the Copa Libertadores - which is fitting considering the trophy pays tribute to AmericaâÂÂs freedom fighters, those who gave blood to the independence of the continentâÂÂs nations.
Instead of maestros with stylish hairdos, backs that seem not having been introduced to razors. Instead of glimmering kits, shirts that makes the fake replicas from the Far East a masterpiece of the haute couture. Instead of newly built, hi-tech stadiums, holes whose pitch should be better used to cattle raising. Instead of charming and centenary sidekicks, never-heard-of squads like Boyacá Chicó, Mineros de Guayana or Sportivo Luqueño.
(And the worst thing is that they even might hurt you - just ask Santos and Boca Juniors, run over by exotic Once Caldas, from Manizales, Colombia, in the road to their extraordinary 2004 Libertadores win.)
The picture that opens this post illustrate how far one must go to conquer America. It was taken by the Globoesporte.com crew when they travelled to Tacna, Peru, to the first game of Flamengo in this yearâÂÂs tournament, against newcomer Coronel Bolognesi, proud champion of the 2007 Peruvian Clausura. The sight of a XIX centuryâÂÂs no-manâÂÂs land is perfectly finished with the hand-painted sign. It warns: "Captured thieves will be burnt alive."
Yes, itâÂÂs a jungle out there. And thatâÂÂs the beauty of the Libertadores.
