Arthur Muhlenberg: Animal Attack
By Guest Author - in
You might remember an old TV show called Animal Attack, which featured serious scientists simulating deadly duels between beasts from different biomes in a laboratory. The Great White Shark faced the Giant Nile Crocodile, the African Lion tangled with the Bengal Tiger, and Godzilla went toe-to-toe with King Kong. In short, it was all hands on deck, always supervised by scholars from various fields of science, who explained what was happening in the ring. It was a very violent show, but also entertaining. And, above all, very educational. As we watched the unbridled fighting, we learned a lot about the physical characteristics of the animals and their respective habitats.
Soon, at the Antonio Vespucio Liberti stadium, commonly known as Monumental de Nuñez, despite being located in the Belgrano neighborhood, Flamengo will face River Plate. It's a clash that could easily have been featured on the old TV show. These are two giants inhabiting different biomes, but unlike those simulated duels in labs, in real life, every now and then, Flamengo and River Plate are actually fighting for prey and are forced to concede.
The current prey is the Conmebol Libertadores, which, besides being very valuable and risky, Flamengo has already forgotten what it tastes like. A decades-long hunger that, we hope, justifies a more ferocious and relentless stance from the Most Beloved than from the MillionariosNothing personal, it's just another chapter in the eternal struggle for survival in the animal world.
Gávea's Super Bad Vulture has faced Nuñez's Monumental Chicken before, for a variety of reasons and on various fields around the world. They've won some, lost others. But in the Libertadores history, we have the advantage, with two wins and that recent draw behind closed doors. We even scored an epic 3-0 at the Monumental, but that was in 1982, back when gods like Zico, Júnior, and Adílio roamed the pitch, haunting mortals, and hadn't yet retreated to the Red-Black Olympus. But we live in a different era. Let's have the humility to admit that discussing classic Flamengo is a subject for historians and scholars of mythology.
To say there's a rivalry between Flamengo and River is an exaggeration, analogous to saying the lion is the rival of the tiger, when in fact they don't even live in the same forest. However, if we consider the values each team represents, we're entitled to treat River with the same contempt we accord Flamengo's more traditional rivals. River, despite its origins among immigrants in the working-class neighborhood of La Boca, from where they moved north as soon as the situation improved a bit, is the team identified with the bourgeoisie. Creole (descendants of the first Spanish colonizers, precursors of the waves of European immigration in the post-colonial period). Quite the opposite of Flamengo, which was born as a playboy in the Rio bourgeoisie and over the years evolved socially to become the team of the mulamba masses throughout Brazil.
Did you notice the Yin YangWe're different from River in every way. Aside from their respective and justified prominences in their homelands, the only thing Flamengo and River share is the somewhat bastardized origin of their nicknames. Everyone knows that Flamengo became "vulture" because, in the politically incorrect 60s, fans of a team from Rio's South Zone tried to mock the strong presence of melanin in our fan base by associating us with the black bird, fearless and omnipresent throughout the country. A plan that backfired and ended up creating yet another symbol of the proud red and black nation.
The story of why River Plate turned chicken is similar. After an embarrassing loss to Peñarol in the 66 Libertadores final, River Plate faced tiny Banfield in the Argentine championship. Some mischievous Banfield fans released a white chicken with a red stripe attached to its feathers onto the pitch of their home field in Peña y Arenales. Naturally, it became a running joke in all the Argentine sports newspapers. River Plate fans, after a momentary irritation with the joke, followed suit, stopped issuing receipts, and also adopted the nickname. And the similarities end there.
And it's good that it is this way, because all the differences we have with River are a source of pride for us. We know they also have their beautiful history and their great moments, but, with all due respect, if it weren't for that drone... Phantom of La B Many of our young fans wouldn't even remember their existence. And between you and me, just that diagonal stripe across River's jersey is more than enough to make us cultivate a justified dislike for them. And why be friendly? If Flamengo really wants to leave the Monumental as group leader, they don't have to be friends with anyone. The Libertadores isn't the place for that.
The gong has sounded. Let the fight begin.
Arthur Muhlenberg has been a mule since 1964.
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As opinions The opinions expressed by the author of this text do not reflect the opinion of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. Arthur Muhlenberg is a guest and directly responsible for the content published here.