Flamengo

The fascinating story of how Brazilian club Flamengo became the best football team in the world, winning cups at every level before beating the mighty Liverpool in 1981 to capture the Intercontinental Cup. Amid the dying days of a dictatorship, Flamengo brought home a country-unifying title and its star players became household names.

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Stephen Brandt tells the story of how Brazilian club Flamengo became the best football team in the world, winning cups at every level before beating the mighty Liverpool in 1981 to capture the Intercontinental Cup. On one side were the kings of Europe who'd recently won their third European Cup in six years, and on the other side Flamengo, who had just won the Copa Libertadores. Amid the dying days of a military dictatorship, Flamengo brought home a country-unifying title, a feat not seen since Pele's Santos won back-to-back Intercontinental Cups in 1962 and '63. Along the way, we meet the special players of that golden generation, including the legendary Junior, the underdog Nunes, Zico, the small-statured talent who was dubbed the next Pele, and the brilliant Tita. The Brazilian side managed by Paulo Cesar Carpegiani played an attractive, free-flowing style of football that Europeans had never seen before. Just a year later they provided many stars for Tele Santana's great team that lit up the 1982 World Cup.