Santo derby: ‘Banana’ for rivals, euphoria and Marcos carried by fans | OneFootball

The celebration of the spot in the 2000 Copa Libertadores final began right after Marcos saved the penalty taken by Marcelinho Carioca. The first image was precisely of Felipão, running toward the locker room.

Letting it out

One of the defining images of the qualification is Felipão making a “banana” gesture at the rival fans in the Morumbi stands. More than two decades later, the former Palmeiras coach admits he should not have done it, but explains just how special the moment was.

– That’s something people still remember too, right? They do remember it, but I shouldn’t have done that. Corinthians fans didn’t deserve it. But it was the moment, it was the game – says Felipão, to NOSSO PALESTRA.

Catharsis

Those who experienced that moment up close believe it was the biggest celebration ever seen inside a locker room. The most important Derby in history ended with a Palmeiras victory and, consequently, a second straight qualification against their rival.

– I think it was the biggest locker-room celebration I ever saw, spontaneous in both intensity and explosion. I don’t remember a locker room with such spontaneous happiness. It was a catharsis – recalls Rubens Sampaio, former Palmeiras doctor, to NP.

AI image of PVC and Marcos in an unusual meeting after the 2000 semifinal

Where’s Marcos? Ask over at the gas station…

The ecstasy from the field and the locker room spilled into the streets of São Paulo and took over Wednesday night. Palmeiras fans who were at the stadium headed to the area around Palestra Italia to celebrate the qualification when, suddenly, the Saint appeared in the flesh at a gas station near the stadium.

– The story of Marcelinho’s penalty is incredible. When I left, I wasn’t working that game, but I was there, with my uncle Silvio. We came down from the game, had a beer at a little stand next to Morumbi, and Silvio said: “let’s have one last drink at the station on Sumaré,” which was that Texaco station, now an Ipiranga station. So we went there and got there a little after two in the morning. There was a crowd, the station packed with people drinking beer, and they’d put a beer can on each side like it was a goal, then someone would come up to take the penalty, kick it, someone would dive and save the penalty in the right corner, and the station would explode – recalls Paulo Vinícius Coelho, before continuing:

– And out of nowhere, it was four in the morning, we’d already been there for over an hour, three-thirty, four in the morning, a car shows up, a huge Blazer. When I look, the entire station runs after that car. What’s going on? Then I see it’s Sônia, Marcos’s wife, driving, and Marcos with his body hanging out of the car, and people reaching out to touch Marcos like this. Marcos with half his body out of the car and the Palmeiras fans touching him as if they were venerating a saint – PVC concludes.

Saint 8

Read more

Chitãozinho and Xororó? Marcos arrives with proof he is a Palmeiras idolCalling card and national team in the year of his first official match for PalmeirasThe board goes up in the derby. Oséas off, Marcos onAn atomic bomb about to explodeMarcos as the star and a new car in the garageExtra help and in the elevator with the enemy

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