After 111 years, Pelé’s club is relegated from Brazil’s top league! See what hell the fans unleashed in the stadium and on the streets

FC Santos, the club that gave the world Pelé, was relegated from the Brazilian top flight for the first time in its existence. The home fans couldn’t take it mentally and took their anger out not only in the stadium but also on the street.

One of the most famous and best Brazilian teams in the history of FC Santos experienced something unprecedented. What happened was something none of the fans could have imagined. After 111 years, the club was relegated from Brazil’s top league.

Before Pelé skipped off to finish his career in America, he managed to play 1,106 games for Santos, scoring a hard-to-believe 1,096 goals. The famous Brazilian team was certainly used to better seasons. However, they are multiple champions and have also won the South American equivalent of the European Champions League – the Copa Libertadores – three times.

However, this season has been one big misery. The team was playing for salvation in the last rounds and the last match was the turning point that decided the fate of the famous team. In the last five rounds, Santos earned only two points for two draws, which was enough for the 17th relegation place.

Santos, along with two other clubs, Sao Paulo and Flamengo, were the only ones never to be relegated from Brazil’s top competition. But that is no longer the case.

The breakthrough home game

In the end, the home game against Fortaleza proved to be the fateful one. Santos not only lost that one 1:2, but got the decisive goal in the 96th minute of the match. As a result, Bahia and Vasco da Gama moved up the table, relegating Santos to the 17th relegation position.

The frustration of the home fans was thus logically immense, as they were still in 15th position before the match started. The eight-time Brazilian champions were eventually relegated by just one point. Immediately after the game, the fans tried to enter the field of play and talk to the players in their own way about the situation. They had to hurry to the safety of the stadium.

In addition, videos have even started circulating on social media showing fans taking their anger to the streets. It wasn’t just cars and buses that were set on fire.

The title was eventually secured by the Palmeiras team, who enjoyed the league championship for the twelfth time in history. Also scoring his 11th goal of the season for the new champions was 17-year-old talent Endrick, who is expected to report to Real Madrid in the summer.

Source: Santos, Eurofotbal, Wikipedia