Column – What is most disappointing for a great football team?

The 2021 season of Brazilian football did not have 12 months, not even the traditional 11, considered the players' vacation. The 2020 ended only in February, and with that we can say that it was ten months of intense turmoil, in which the main teams had to split between state teams, Copa do Brasil, Brasileirão and South American competitions. The price was expensive for some teams, even for the big favorites, but even higher for those who didn't have a well-defined structure or didn't organize themselves.

Athletico-PR is an example of this alternation in the season. Champion of the Copa Sudamericana and assured of a place in next year's Libertadores, Hurricane is also in the final of the Copa do Brasil, but until the penultimate round of the Brasileirão, it was threatened with relegation. Bragantino, finalists of the Copa Sudamericana, with plans to enter the group stage of the Libertadores, now run the risk of having to dispute the preliminary round of the main competition on the continent.

Three teams emerged as the biggest favorites for the main titles in dispute: Atlético-MG, Flamengo and Palmeiras. Galo has already won the Brasileirão, and can still take the Copa do Brasil, but was eliminated in the semifinals of the Libertadores. Palmeiras fell in the Copa do Brasil, was third in the Brasileirão, but took home the Copa Libertadores. Flamengo was a semi-finalist in the Copa do Brasil, a finalist in the Libertadores and runner-up in the Brasileirão. No trophy. Let's save this information!

Still in Serie A, who, at the beginning of the year, would place Grêmio among the likely relegated to second? Structured club, good players, financially well, own stadium. However, there is the Tricolor from Rio Grande do Sul, practically demoted, needing to do a lot of math to escape the fall. How to explain?

And changing the look to Serie B, a quick survey shows us that Vasco, at the beginning of the championship, was always quoted among the four that would move up to Serie A in 2022. However, the team with the highest payroll ended up in tenth place. Cruzeiro, which has been in Segundona for two years, also did not get access and is going to its third season outside the elite.

There are four big clubs, with relevant fans, going through difficult times, each one with different goals and dreams, with different defeats. Who will turn the saddest year? The favorite who didn't lift any trophies? The demoted? Or what has not returned to the elite?

Some say that those with the greatest ambition suffer the biggest fall. But who has the biggest goal: who wants to be champion or who seeks recovery? And who suffered the greatest defeat? By the way, does the moment weigh more (in the case of the fight for a title) or the one that affects the next season?

Grêmio can still escape the biggest defeat on Thursday (9), despite particularly finding it very difficult. But the fact is that it is not possible to say which of these four fans is the most frustrated, with a gray and colorless New Year, this season in which the black and white of Atlético-MG and Botafogo predominated.

* Sergio du Bocage is the presenter of the program No Mundo da Bola, on TV Brasil.

Text translated using artificial intelligence.