Guilherme, from Rio de Janeiro, could not lose the 2019 decision against River Plate, and fulfill his grandmother's dream, who died the year before. The fan, who traveled by bus to the Peruvian capital city in a convoy with journalists and hundreds of fans of the red and black team, had to go through a real drama to overcome the barricades of protesters in Pozo Almonte, in northern Chile, who closed roads during protests against an ore plant, and finally reach its destination.
He, like Flamengo, showed that "Every result is possible". The Rio de Janeiro club arrived victorious in the 2019 final and secured the cup against River Plate, with two goals from Gabigol in the final minutes of an unforgettable match for the Flamengo fans. At the time, the bookmaker pointed out that Fla had a 46% chance of winning the match in 90 minutes, and a 62% chance of getting the trophy.
"The love for Flamengo and the desire to get to Lima in time to see the champion team, as it was my grandmother's dream, motivated me to talk to the protesters," says Guilherme, 29 years old. "I saw myself representing a nation of 40 million fans, a crowd so passionate and so many who couldn't go. I had to go and it couldn't be different. In my life, nothing was easy, it was always with a lot of struggle, and this saga could not be different," he adds.
The carioca does not lose a team game in Libertadores. Even if Flamengo reaches the decision of the competition in 2021, which will be played in Montevideo, Uruguay, he guarantees that he will do everything to go to the stadium.
Born into a family of Flamengo fans in the Ilha do Governador neighborhood, in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, Guilherme had in his grandmother Sonia, a fanatical red-black fan, the great encourager to to support the Rio team. The passion for Flamengo only grew with all the moments he lived in Maracanã with her and the rubro-negro family members, which turned him into yet another passionate for Flamengo.
"My grandmother was always very important to me. Even with all the obstacles, she didn't leave her love for Flamengo aside. I'm sure that this love I have for this club is very much due to her," he says.
"Seeing the love of other fans for their clubs is inspiring. Talking about Flamengo is talking about my history, my family, my happiness, the joy of living. I am very grateful for this opportunity to express my love for this club and to know that so many others will be able to see, or even feel, what it is to be Flamengo," completes Guilherme.
In 2018, Guilherme lost his grandmother, but he didn't want to let go of all the love for the club that was left as a legacy. So, he developed the habit of wearing the Flamengo shirt left by Sonia in all the team's games in Libertadores, which turned out to be a wise decision.
“Flamengo today, despite not being the current CONMEBOL Libertadores champion, is the team that everyone wants to beat. The year 2019 was very magical. It's been a long time since you saw a team in South America playing that way. So far we haven't had an equal team. Flamengo was once again the dreaded Malvadão," celebrates Guilherme.
More about INCOMPARÁVEL series
The purpose of the series episodes was to provide a platform for fans to express their passion for the most popular sport in the world. The idea is to put football fans at the center of their own stories and show what the sport really means to them.
In the first episode, the series tell the story of Gustavo Ziller, fanatical fan of Atlético-MG who climbed Mount Everest and took the ‘Galo’ flag to the top of the world. The second episode presented the overcoming story of Alex Sandro, a former player of the São Paulo amputees team, who contradicted the forecasts after a serious accident.
Source: GMB
