1987 Paulista champions | OneFootball

On August 30, 1987, São Paulo drew 0-0 with Corinthians at a packed Morumbis, with more than one hundred thousand people in attendance, and won the Campeonato Paulista for the 15th time in club history, after winning the first leg of the final 2-1 a week earlier.

It was the Tricolor’s second major title of the year. In fact, the second triumph in just six months. On February 25, São Paulo had won the 1986 Campeonato Brasileiro — in epic fashion — by beating Guarani on penalties (3-2), after drawing 3-3 in regular time and extra time, with the last São Paulo goal scored by Careca in the closing moments of the match.

Strong favorites, Pepe’s team began the state championship amid another competition drawing all the attention because of the so-called “Tokyo Project”: the Copa Libertadores, a place in which had been secured by victory in the previous national championship. But the goal was not an easy one.

A TROUBLED START

While in the Paulista the Tricolor remained unbeaten through the first seven rounds, in the Libertadores the loss in the rematch against Guarani, their competition debut, cooled spirits. To make matters worse, São Paulo had been playing without the team’s main player: center forward Careca.

The idol was nearing the end of his contract with the club and was in the middle of renewal talks, while offers from foreign teams kept coming and going all the time. Napoli of Italy, which eventually signed the Brazilian striker in May, even backed out of the deal in March. The entire month of April was lost in back-and-forth negotiations. After Careca’s move to Europe was agreed, to coincide with the start of their season, the player wore the São Paulo shirt again in a friendly precisely against the Neapolitan side — part of the agreement — at the San Paolo Stadium.

Maradona and Careca, in Italy

In the meantime, São Paulo had managed just one win (2-1 over Cobreloa) and had already piled up two defeats in the Libertadores: they lost 2-1 to Colo-Colo at Morumbis. (That result, incidentally, marked the beginning of a run of 38 unbeaten home internationals, and 30 home Copa Libertadores matches — a mark that only fell in 2006, against Guadalajara).

If not having the team’s main scorer was worrying, losing the Brazilian champion coach was alarming. Pepe left São Paulo on April 21, right after the 3-2 loss to Santos at Vila Belmiro. In resigning, the coach cited exhaustion and said he needed to deal with personal matters.

Midfielder Neto was one of the Tricolor’s bets for the season (photo: Sergio Berezovsky)

Without their top scorer and without a head coach, São Paulo carried on under Zé Carlos Serrão, at least temporarily. In the Paulistão, the Tricolor was outside the qualification zone, having lost to leaders Palmeiras and managed only a scoreless draw with Corinthians, who at that point were bottom of the table.

After a crushing home defeat to Bandeirante de Birigui (0-2), São Paulo appointed a new coach to lead the team for the rest of the season. New, in fact, is not exactly the best word. Cilinho returned to the position that had made him famous years earlier as the coach who revealed the Menudos do Morumbis.

Ziza, Edílson and Adílson, Cilinho’s new bets, on the right (photo: Nelson Coelho)

NOW IT’S ON

The Tricolor still took some time to hit its stride and get back on track. There were seven games without a win after the return of Cilinho — and Careca too, incidentally — as well as definitive elimination from the Copa Libertadores, with draws against Guarani (2-2, home) and Colo-Colo (2-2, away) and a defeat to Cobreloa (1-3, away).

Now fully and exclusively focused on the Paulistão, and with no more impasse involving Careca (who effectively transferred to Napoli), São Paulo took off! They put together a 10-match unbeaten run — only broken by modest XV de Jaú, in Jaú. Their record in derbies, however, still left something to be desired: they only beat Santos (1-0) in the second round, having drawn with Palmeiras (0-0) and Corinthians (3-3, in a comeback that took Corinthians into the final phase of the tournament).

Edivaldo celebrates a goal in the 3-3 draw against Corinthians. (photo: Abril Imagens/Placar no. 898)

At the end of the two rounds, the Tricolor had 46 points, finishing in third place, behind Santos (48) and Palmeiras (47) and ahead of Corinthians (45). That set up a Choque-Rei in the semifinal.

In the first match, on August 15, there was a 0-0 draw at Morumbis. In the other semifinal, Corinthians thrashed Santos 5-1 and virtually secured a place in the final (the return leg ended 0-0). With goals from Müller (2) and Neto (from a free kick, with huge help from Zetti, then the rival goalkeeper), São Paulo sealed qualification for the final by beating Palmeiras 3-1 on August 23.

In the semifinal, São Paulo saw off Palmeiras. (photos: Carlos Fenerich and Edu Garcia)

Both finals were played at Morumbis. A crowd of 95,493 saw the Tricolor beat Corinthians 2-1 in the first match, on the 26th. São Paulo took the lead through Edivaldo in the 30th minute of the first half and doubled it with a header from Lê in the first minute of the second half. Shortly after, in the seventh minute, João Paulo pulled one back for Corinthians.

Lê’s goal that sealed São Paulo’s victory in the first meeting. (photo: Carlos Fenerich)

THE DECIDER

The grand final, held exactly 30 years ago, brought 109,474 people to Cícero Pompeu de Toledo. With the result from the first match, the Tricolor had the “advantage of a draw” to be crowned champion. And even if Corinthians had won in 90 minutes, São Paulo would still have kept that advantage in the ensuing extra time because of their better overall campaign in the competition (that is, one more point earned throughout the tournament).

The Tricolor, aware of the pressure their opponents would have to apply to change the situation, controlled the match in the first half, containing the rival’s momentum without giving up on attacking. In the first chance, in the 11th minute, a blunder by Jatobá almost led to a São Paulo goal. The defender clumsily passed the ball back to Waldir Peres, Corinthians’ goalkeeper at the time, who got rid of it as best he could, only for Müller to intercept with a header. The beloved club’s striker also got tangled up and could not finish into the net.

On another occasion, São Paulo even found the net through left winger Edivaldo, after a fine move by Pita and a cross from Silas, but the officials disallowed the goal for an alleged offside.

In the second half, with the clock in their favor, the Tricolor went forward and dominated the match in the opponent’s half. In total, São Paulo had nine shots, against only four from the other side. In one of those attacks, Müller received from Silas and poked the ball with the tip of his boot to Edivaldo, who got there ahead of Waldir Peres and sent the ball into the back of the net again! A shame that once again the goal he scored was disallowed by the officials.

After nearly celebrating two goals, when Dúlcidio Vanderlei Boschilia blew the final whistle, the Tricolors could finally celebrate the 1987 Campeonato Paulista title, the 15th in the history of São Paulo Futebol Clube.

São Paulo fans celebrate the title (photos: Nelson Coelho, Sergio Berezovsky and Gladstone Campos)

THE FINAL MATCH

08/30/1987. Campeonato PaulistaSão Paulo (SP). Cícero Pompeu de Toledo Stadium – MorumbisSÃO PAULO Futebol Clube 0 X 0 Sport Club CORINTHIANS Paulista

SPFC: Gilmar; Zé Teodoro, Adílson, Darío Pereyra and Nelsinho; Bernardo, Silas and Pita; Müller, Lê (Paulo Martins) and Edivaldo (Neto). Coach: Cilinho.

SCCP: Waldir Peres, Édson, Mauro, Jatobá and Dida; Biro-Biro, Eduardo (Marcos Roberto) and Éverton; Jorginho, Edmar and João Paulo. Coach: Formiga.

Referee: Dulcídio Wanderley BoschillaGate receipts: Cz$ 9,725,190.00Attendance: 109,474 paid

Bernardo, Adilson, Gilmar, Darío Pereyra, Nelsinho and Zé Teodoro; Müller, Silas, Lê, Pita and Edivaldo (photo: Nelson Coelho)

THE CAMPAIGN

First phase – First round03/22/1987. Morumbis: 2×1 Santo André-SP03/29/1987. Vail Chaves: 2×2 Mogi Mirim-SP04/01/1987. Morumbis: 3×0 Inter de Limeira-SP04/05/1987. Morumbis: 2×2 Portuguesa-SP04/07/1987. Morumbis: 3×2 XV de Jaú-SP04/12/1987. Morumbis: 1×1 Novorizontino-SP04/15/1987. F. Luminosa: 1×1 Ferroviária-SP04/19/1987. Vila Belmiro: 2×3 Santos-SP04/22/1987. Morumbis: 4×0 Ponte Preta-SP04/26/1987. Santa Cruz: 1×1 Botafogo-SP04/29/1987. B. Serra Negra: 2×0 XV Piracicaba-SP05/02/1987. Pacaembu: 0x1 Palmeiras-SP05/10/1987. Morumbis: 0x0 Corinthians-SP05/13/1987. M. Mendonça: 2×1 América-SP05/17/1987. B. de Ouro: 0x0 Guarani-SP05/20/1987. Morumbis: 0x2 Bandeirante-SP05/24/1987. Morumbis: 0x0 Juventus-SP05/26/1987. Alfredão: 1×2 Noroeste-SP05/28/1987. Morumbis: 0x0 São Bento-SP

Müller and Lê celebrate a goal against Palmeiras. (photo: Carlos Fenerich)

First phase – Second round05/31/1987. Morumbis: 0x0 Mogi Mirim-SP06/06/1987. Rua Javari: 0x2 Juventus-SP06/10/1987. Brunão: 4×0 Santo André-SP06/21/1987. CIC: 2×1 São Bento-SP06/24/1987. Canindé: 0x0 Portuguesa-SP06/28/1987. Pedrão: 1×0 Bandeirante-SP07/01/1987. Morumbis: 1×1 América-SP07/05/1987. Morumbis: 3×2 Botafogo-SP07/08/1987. Quirinão: 3×2 Novorizontino-SP07/12/1987. Majestoso: 1×1 Ponte Preta-SP07/15/1987. Morumbis: 2×2 Guarani-SP07/19/1987. Morumbis: 0x0 Palmeiras-SP07/22/1987. Morumbis: 4×1 XV Piracicaba-SP07/26/1987. Z. Magalhães: 0x2 XV de Jaú-SP07/29/1987. Morumbis: 3×2 Noroeste-SP08/02/1987. Morumbis: 1×0 Santos-SP08/05/1987. Morumbis: 2×0 Ferroviária-SP08/09/1987. Morumbis: 3×3 Corinthians-SP08/12/1987. Limeirão: 0x2 Inter de Limeira-SP

Müller, alongside his then-wife Lilian Ramos, was the Tricolor’s second top scorer in the tournament.

Lê led the way. (photo: João Farah Historical Archive)

Cilinho is celebrated by the fans after the title win. (photo: Osvaldo Jurno)

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.