Nestor "Tito" Gonçalves
In 1957, four years before Juan Joya joined Peñarol´s ranks, another club legend started his career. Gonçalves played 574 matches for the "Aurinegros" and never left the club until he retired in 1970. He was an exceptional defensive midfielder who was brilliant in breaking up the play and shielding the defence with a passing range rarely found in Southamerican anchor men. In total he won 9 league titles, 3 copa libertadores and 2 intercontinental Cups, which makes him the most successful footballer in the history of the uruguayan league.
During the reign of Guttmann he captained Peñarol in one of the most controversial and scandalous finals in the history of the copa libertadores. In 1962 after beating the local rival "Nacional", they faced Santos FC in the final round with the chance to win the competition for a 3rd time in a row.
Santos won the first match 2:1 in Montevideo, so Peñarol had to win the return leg to force a decider. Peñarol was leading 3:2, when the brazilian crowd got disgruntled. At the 52nd minute the referee was knocked out after being hit by a bottle. When Carlos Robles (ref) woke up, he decided to abandon the match, but due to very serious menaces of Santos delegates, fans and politics, he was forced to continue the match after a 50 minute delay. The rest of the match was played "unofficially", as the referee himself communicated to the CSF board in the match report.
During this abnormal period, Santos equalised in the 66th minute, when the linesman was knocked unconscious by a bottle, delaying the match again. When Peñarol got a pen, Robles was forced by Santos players and supporters to rectify his decision. Peñarol players including their captain protested, so the ref tells him "Tito, I think we all want to get out of here alive, don't we?" The chaotic and violent match ended 3:3, but the CSF ruled the match 3:2 in favour of Panerol.
One month later both teams faced each other one more time to decide this exceptional final. In Buenos Aires Guttmann´s team was overwhelmed by the outstanding Pele, who scored twice and assisted another goal. Santos won 3:0 and triumphed in this young competition.
Maybe @antohan can tell us even more brilliant stories about our Uruguayan players, two more will join the team soon.
Legend. Good writeup, you've done some pretty good research but missed on a key ingredient: that final had three laps of honour.1) After the second leg in Brazil Santos players did it assuming they had won the tourno. They didn't know the game had been officially ended with a Peñarol win, neither did their fans, which made it possible for Peñarol fans, players and ref to get back home safely.
2) The day the final was scheduled in Buenos Aires, only Peñarol showed up. Walkover, Peñarol surely champions, lap of honour.
3) As it turns out Santos managed to argue the final wasn't official as they were still arguing their case re: the second leg. The truth was Pelé was injured and there was no way Santos wanted to play the final without him, so they kept arguing for an entire month until Pelé was fit again (and Peñarol on a break, i.e. like catching us on July 15th), and only then was the final played. Santos won and for a third time (second for Santos) there was a lap of honour celebrating the same Copa triumph.
Tells you a thing or two about what was demanded of someone to get to the top and stay at the top for a decade back then. You had to be feircely competitive and relish the challenge of playing away at Vila Belmiro, Puerto Sajonia... Hostile stadiums, after a night without any sleep from fans playing drums and chanting all night outside the hotel, to intimidate them and the refereeing team. Police and/or army around the pitch, escorting teams in and out... and all of them fans of the local team themselves and whispering threats in the tunnel, or by the touchline when throwing or kicking a corner. The game you mentioned above itself only got restarted because a CBF official, who was also a Director at Santos and local politician went into the ref's quarters wielding a gun and being very clear if the game wasn't restarted they were all goners.
You win once, twice... but where do you find the motivation to keep enduring that for a decade? It's every bit the attitude and mentality of Ryan Giggs but in the face of significant adversity. Tito played 5 (five, FIVE) Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Finals in the space of a decade, most of them as captain. That's just insane and only comparable with the achievements of Di Stéfano's Real.
Remarkably, had there been an away goals rule in place back then, he would have won all five Libertadores. Playing away suited him and that team, the hostile atmosphere only made them more formidable than usual.
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