By Joshua Law for Yellow and Green Football
In each game Flamengo played in the Maracanã during this year’s Copa Libertadores one song rang out louder than any other. “In December 1981,” they chanted, “we ran rings around the English. 3-0 against Liverpool, it went down in history. In Rio there’s no equal, only Flamengo are world champions. And now your people ask for the world again.”
Fans were desperate for the continental title and urged their players toward it. Yet with Liverpool confirmed as European champions they could not help but cast their thoughts further ahead. With each passing round they were a step closer to a repeat of the greatest moment in the club’s history, when a side led by Zico beat Liverpool 3-0 to take the 1981 Intercontinental Cup – or Mundial, as it is known in Brazil – in Tokyo’s National Stadium.
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