Atlético Mineiro meets Botafogo in the 2024 Copa Libertadores final. The best club side in South America will be decided at Argentina’s Estadio Mâs Monumental Stadium.
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00:00South America's premier domestic competition is set for a thrilling conclusion,
00:05with Atletico Mineiro taking on Botafogo in an all-Brazilian affair
00:09in the final of the 2024 Copa Libertadores.
00:13So, who will be crowned the continent's best club?
00:20Hello and welcome to Football Now from Albira Park in Doha.
00:24Anticipation is rising for the final of the 2024 Copa Libertadores.
00:29Between two Brazilian sides, Atletico Mineiro and Botafogo.
00:33Being crowned continental champions is on the line,
00:36as is qualification for both the 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup,
00:40which is being hosted here in Doha next month,
00:42and the brand new 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
00:45So, just how much does this tournament mean to both supporters of these teams,
00:49as well as South American football in general?
00:52Well, this is South America's Champions League,
00:56and South America is one of the two big continents of football.
01:01There's no World Cup in 1930 without the South American contribution.
01:05South America has the team that's won the World Cup most times,
01:08and it has the current champions of the World Cup.
01:10So, from a South American perspective, they bitterly resent the fact
01:13that they can't just go straight to a game against the European champions,
01:17that they've got to play teams from other confederations first.
01:19In Europe, winning the Champions League is an end in itself.
01:22In South America, winning the Libertadores is a very, very big deal,
01:26but it also opens the gates to paradise,
01:29the chance to fight for the title of being the best club side in the world.
01:33That plays very, very big over here.
01:35Let's take a look at both teams then,
01:37and just what it took for them to both reach the final.
01:40Atletico Mineiro are bidding to win just their second Copa Libertadores,
01:44after their maiden success back in 2013.
01:48Mineiro topped the strong group, featuring Uruguayan giants Penarol,
01:52and scored the most goals of any team in the early stages.
01:56After seeing off Argentina's San Lorenzo in the round of 16,
01:59they beat fellow Brazilian heavyweights Fluminense in the quarterfinals,
02:03before securing their place in the decider
02:05with a 3-0 win over Argentine champions River Plate.
02:09They've been incredibly impressive,
02:11and what people who don't watch South American football need to realise
02:15is there's games almost three or four days,
02:17whether it's the league, whether it's the Copa Libertadores,
02:20whether it's Copa do Brasil.
02:21So where Mineiro haven't performed particularly well in the league,
02:24they've made two finals, Copa do Brasil final,
02:27and also now Copa Libertadores finals.
02:29I think a lot of people will be looking at Hulk and be surprised
02:31that he's still going.
02:33He's been phenomenal in the league with Paulinho,
02:35and the addition of Davison has been unbelievable.
02:38He scored the brace against Fluminense in the quarterfinals,
02:42he scored a brace against River Plate.
02:44A lot of attention will be on Hulk because of his name and his career,
02:47but it really is going to be Davison who could be the difference
02:50for Mineiro in this final.
02:52After only winning promotion from Serie B back in the 2021-22 season,
02:56Botafogo have enjoyed a meteoric rise up the ranks
02:59to become one of Brazil's best teams.
03:02So could the fairy tale be complete here
03:04by them lifting their first ever Copa Libertadores?
03:08Entering in the early qualifying stages of the tournament,
03:11Botafogo have had a much tougher path to the final
03:13than their opponents.
03:15Seeded 14th out of the remaining teams in the round of 16,
03:19they then overcame two Brazilian heavyweights.
03:21First was Palmeiras, and then they squeezed past Sao Paulo on penalties.
03:26They secured their spot in the final with a comprehensive 6-3 semifinal win
03:30on aggregate over Uruguay's Peneral.
03:33Botafogo are currently leading this year's Serie A
03:36and should have won the league title last season
03:38if it wasn't for a remarkable collapse towards the end of the campaign.
03:42Leading the table by 14 points at the halfway mark,
03:45they failed to win any of their last 11 games
03:48and fell to 5th in the table.
03:50So could winning this year's Copa go some way
03:52to erasing the heartbreak of last season?
03:55It's been a rollercoaster.
03:57What happened last season happened last season,
03:59and whatever's going to happen this year is yet to be written.
04:02Coming from the stand and the fans,
04:04there is that kind of like, oh, man, is it going to happen again?
04:07But I don't think it's something on the players' mind.
04:10It just serves as a reminder of, this is what happened to that squad,
04:13but we're a different mindset.
04:14So much so that our performance this year
04:16is already better than the performance that it was last year.
04:19And by this time last year, the collapse had already,
04:22it was already underway.
04:23Botafogo started at the qualifying stages for the Libertadores,
04:26so we weren't even in the group stage.
04:28And then we just started winning.
04:29Botafogo played a total of 11 Libertadores titles.
04:33São Paulo has won some, Nacional has won some,
04:36Palmeiras has won some.
04:37We didn't even think we were going to make it to the group stage,
04:39and here we are in the final.
04:40So I rate our chances very good, but I think we can win it, yeah.
04:43Now, since 2019, the final of the Copa Libertadores
04:47has been played on neutral ground.
04:49And this year, the venue is the Estadio Mas Monumental in Argentina,
04:53the home of River Plate and some 2,000 kilometers away
04:56from both sets of fans.
04:58So how will this affect the atmosphere?
05:00And is there a growing concern that future tournaments
05:02could be played outside of South America?
05:05I think there is an entirely legitimate concern
05:09that this is going to happen with the Libertadores.
05:11You mentioned there the Copa America.
05:13We've now had two inside the last 10 years in the United States.
05:17It makes even more sense to do this with the club game
05:19than it does with national teams.
05:21So one possible solution is on a kind of tournament basis,
05:26almost certainly in the United States.
05:29There's a real problem now for the Libertadores,
05:32and that is that the Brazilians have become so much better than the rest
05:35that it would seem that the Pan-American solution
05:38is the only solution to keeping it interesting.
05:40It's set to be another thrilling final in South America.
05:43Let us know who you think will be crowned continental champions
05:46using the hashtag Football Now Copa Libertadores.
05:49That's all we've got time for here from Albedo Park in Doha.
05:53We'll see you next time. Bye for now.