The first Libertadores triumph | OneFootball

On August 30, 1962, Santos wrote one of the most important pages in its history. At the Monumental de Núñez Stadium in Buenos Aires, the black-and-white side defeated Peñarol 3–0 and won the Copa Libertadores de América for the first time. It was also the first time a Brazilian club had won South America’s top competition.

The road to the final began with a group stage without major difficulties. Santos won both matches against Bolivia’s Deportivo Municipal, drew one match with Cerro Porteño, and handed the Paraguayan club a historic 9–1 thrashing. Finishing top of the group, they advanced to the semifinal to face Universidad Católica of Chile.

In Santiago, Santos took the lead through Lima, but conceded the equalizer a few minutes later. At Vila Belmiro, Zito scored the only goal of the match and secured a place in the final.

On the other side was Peñarol. The reigning South American champion, the Uruguayan team entered directly into the semifinal, where it eliminated Nacional, also from Uruguay. Two-time Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental champions, Peñarol reached the final once again, this time against Santos.

Three matches, one title

The first match of the final took place in Montevideo. Without Pelé, who was injured and replaced by Pagão, Santos conceded in the 18th minute but responded well. Coutinho equalized in the 28th minute and, 15 minutes into the second half, scored again to seal a 2–1 win for Santos.

With the advantage, Santos needed only a draw at Vila Belmiro to take the title. The match, however, ended amid major controversy.

Peñarol opened the scoring, but Santos turned it around before halftime. Early in the second half, the Uruguayans equalized and scored a third in the 11th minute from a highly disputed penalty, strongly protested by Santos players and fans.

The decision sparked a brief commotion, and bottles were thrown onto the pitch. In the 22nd minute, Pagão scored Santos’ third goal, making it 3–3.

The crowd celebrated the title, and the next day the newspapers presented Santos as champion. Referee Carlos Robles, however, recorded a different version in the match report submitted the following day. The document mentioned pitch invasions, threats, and assaults. According to the referee, fearing the situation would worsen, he ended the match when Peñarol was leading 3–2 and considered the rest of it a “friendly.”

A third match was therefore required, to be played at a neutral venue.

The night in Buenos Aires

The Monumental de Núñez welcomed 45,980 paying spectators on August 30, 1962. For the first and only time in that competition, Santos was able to field its full lineup, the so-called “Dream Team.”

Recovered from a muscle injury, Pelé returned to the team, which took the field with Gylmar, Lima, Mauro and Dalmo; Calvet and Zito; Dorval, Mengálvio, Coutinho, Pelé and Pepe. The coach was Luiz Alonso Perez, known as Lula.

Peñarol played with Maidana, Gonzales and Lezcano; Gonçalves, Cano and Caetano; Rojas, Sacía, Spencer, Matosas and Joya.

Santos began the match determined to settle the tie. In the ninth minute, Coutinho received the ball at the edge of the box, cut to the left, moved forward, and struck as Maidana came out. Caetano tried to stop the goal, but ended up deflecting the ball into his own net.

Santos came back from halftime at the same pace. In the third minute, Dorval, Coutinho, and Pelé exchanged passes until the King, after taking a defender out of the play, finished into the left corner to make it 2–0.

Peñarol could not find the strength to respond. In the 44th minute, with part of the Uruguayan crowd already leaving the stadium, Pelé and Coutinho combined again. The center forward made the pass, and the King simply tapped it into the net to make it 3–0.

Santos were champions of South America.

The celebration on the pitch

The triumph sparked a pitch invasion. The fans wanted to celebrate alongside the players, especially Pelé, who scored twice in the final. The King ended up having his shirt forcibly taken off by the crowd, which fought over every piece of it.

The other players were also carried by the fans. Only afterward was the group able to come together for the lap of honor and salute the Santos supporters who remained in the stands.

While the celebration was going on, another memory from the match also gained a curious chapter. Dutch referee Leo Horn kept the ball used in the final. Faced with the insistence of others who also wanted to take it, he said it would only reappear in the Netherlands. To Horn, that ball represented a trophy from the most important and brilliant match he had ever officiated.

And Santos also won over those in the stadium. In the opening minutes, the Argentine crowd cheered for Peñarol. Little by little, however, Santos’ play earned the public’s applause, and even before halftime, the Brazilian team was already being celebrated by the Argentines.

The golden year

The conquest of South America was only one part of a historic season. In 1962, no other team celebrated its 50th anniversary the way Santos did.

In addition to the Copa Libertadores, the club won the other three official competitions it played that year: the Campeonato Paulista, the Brazilian Championship, and the Intercontinental competition, or the Interclub World Cup.

The victory over Peñarol therefore paved the way for Santos to also become world champion and cemented 1962 as one of the most remarkable years in the club’s history.

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