Before the start of the 2025 Football Clubs World Cup, many expected easy victories for the great European against immersed competitors from other continents, but instead the tournament had another opinion to leave the game giants in the world, hitting fifths in Asadas.
With Porto and Atletico Madrid eliminating the group stage and winning European teams in only two games out of 7 games against competitors from South America, Europe was not achieved as expected.
“We knew in advance that the tournament comes at the end of a long season, while for the South American teams, it is in the middle of it completely as the players reach the top of their level,” said Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone after his early team left the tournament.
The story of the exhaustion became familiar, as the International Federation of Professional Players (Vivarro) filed the European branch with a complaint against FIFA because of the crowded championship schedule.
There are also burning temperatures in the United States at this time of the year. But South America players completely reject these interpretations.
“After playing for many years in Europe, I do not believe the tired novel at the end of the season,” said Flamingo’s Flamingo player, who played under the leadership of Simeone in Atletico Madrid after a 3-1 victory over Chelsea.
“We came here as we look at every match as a final match. This makes a big difference,” he added.
Statistics refute the argument of European exhaustion
Among the participating clubs top 4 Brazilian teams, including Botafogo, the list of clubs most played for matches last year, as the number of matches each played exceeded 70 games.
Potafogo, who qualified from the second group alongside Paris Saint -Germain at the expense of Atletico Madrid, played 18 games more than his Spanish rival during the same period.
While the Brazilian teams got a month’s rest before the start of the local season, the schedule of its crowded matches was a source of complaint in South America.
Brazilian legend Zico criticized European justifications, saying, “We see some European personalities act as if they have football and should stop this. Once they see things, they are not going well, they start fabricating many excuses.”
“It seems that they are unable to play when they face a strong competition. The heat is the same for everyone, we played the previous clubs for the Club World Cup at the end of the season. So why have you become a problem now?
The Club World Cup was held in its previous form in December.
Not all European coaches blamed the external factors for the suffering of their teams.
Juventus coach Igor Tudor said he had not seen “any signs of fatigue” on his team, while Paris Saint-Germain Luis Enrique praised, despite the sudden loss 1-0 against Botafogo, in the championship.
“I think the idea of the tournament is great,” Luis Enrique said.
During the traditional European clubs, the South American teams took the opportunity to constitute a challenge to this hegemony and with the continuation of matches at incendiary temperatures, the event developed into real global competition.
