Incognito D wrote:What's the story behind that!?
They couldn't take him showing off so they decided to kick him and it turned into a mass brawl? What are the players that got interviewed saying?
Yes, that was pretty much it.
It was the 2nd game of the 1999 Paulista finals between the most popular teams of São Paulo, Palmeiras and Corinthians, the ones with fiercest rivalry.
In the first game, Palmeiras didn't field its best players, since three days later it would play the finals to Libertadores (which, as you might know, is the most important tournament in the continent). Thus, Corinthians won easily 3-0. Palmeiras then had to win 2-0 at least to claim the championship (I don't know why, I don't remember the details of that particular tournament).
Anyway, even though it was Palmeiras that needed to win badly, it was Corinthians that scored first. Palmeiras scored two times, but Corinthians tied up the match again with 12 minutes left to the end. With the game won, Edílson started showing off, both to waste time and to tease Palmeiras' players.
They didn't like it very much and started the brawl. The referee called the end to the match and Corinthians was the champion.
As for what they said, let me try to translate.
Paulo Nunes, one of the Palmeiras players who started the fight, said:
Paulo Nunes: "It's not our fault they didn't win the Libertadores. It's not our fault!"
Reporter: "Was that disrespectful?"
Paulo Nunes: "They can keep this crap title, this is the title they deserve! There was no respect to the professionals!"
Edílson, the dude who started showing off, said he was actually just responding to the provocations he had gotten from Palmeiras all that week long. He said: "I just listened to their tease and teased back. If this is what happens when we do this kind of thing to Palmeiras, there's nothing I can do about it."