The results were not given to Gremio and he descended in series A of the Brasileirão

The Gremio, one of the most traditional clubs in Brazilian football and which has three Copa Libertadores titles, beat Atlético Mineiro, brand new champion of the League in Brazil, 4-3 on Thursday night, but did not prevent their relegation. to the second division.

On the last day, in which only two of the clubs that next year will play the second division and the last places in the Libertadores and South American cups were to be defined, Gremio did his part and beat the champion, but one of his rivals did not help him achieve the miracle.

The Gremio also needed Bahía and Juventude to lose, the other clubs that were threatened with relegation.

Although Bahia lost 2-1 in their visit to Fortaleza, Juventude beat Corinthians 1-0 at home with a penalty from Chico.

With these results, Gremio, seventeenth in the standings with 43 points, three behind Juventude, who maintained the category, and Bahía, third to last with the same 43, joined Sport (38) and Chapecoense (15), the two clubs. they were already condemned to decline.

This is the third time in its history that Gremio has left the elite group of the Brazilian Championship. It also declined in 1991 and 2004.

His relegation ended a bad season in which he was always in the qualifying pool and in which he changed coaches three times.

The Porto Alegre team gave worrying signs from the start, despite being reinforced by important names such as attacker Douglas Costas, former Juventus and Bayern Munich player, or Colombian striker Miguel Borja, who arrived mid-term.

Surprisingly, he fell in the previous phase of the Libertadores, eliminated by Independiente del Valle in Ecuador, which cost coach Renato Gaúcho his job after four and a half years.

The board sought a reaction with Tiago Nunes, but it did not last three months. He then bet on the return of a heavyweight on the benches like Luiz Felipe Scolari, former Brazil and Portugal coach, and finally signed Vagner Mancini.

But the gaucho tricolor said goodbye with a 4-3 victory over the new Brazilian champion with two touchdowns by Diego Souza, another by Douglas Costa and another by Campaz. For Mineiro, who played with substitutes, Dodó, Hyoran and Chilean Eduardo Vargas were discounted. The account could be higher but Miguel Borja wasted a penalty in the last minutes of the game.

The Mineiro, who were crowned champion of the League this year two days in advance, reserved their starters on the last day thinking about the match next Sunday, in which they will face Athletico Parananese for the first match of the final of the Copa do Brasil.

Despite the defeat, the Belo Horizonte team finished the Brazilian Championship with 84 points and thirteen units ahead of Flamengo, the League champion in 2019 and 2020, their escort in the standings and who again disappointed by falling by 2 -0 in his visit to Atlético Goianiense on the last day.

After the results of the last day, Bragantino, sixth with 56 points, joined Mineiro, Flamengo, Fortaleza (fourth with 58) and Corinthians (fifth with 57) among the Brazilian clubs that guaranteed direct place for Libertadores.

Bragantino, finalist this year in the South American Cup, got the last direct place in the Libertadores by beating Internacional 1-0 with a goal in the minutes of replacement by Artur, their main star.

Palmeiras (third with 66 points) will also compete in the 2022 Libertadores after having won the tournament title for the second year in a row and Athletico Paranaense for having been champion of the South American Cup this year.

Fluminense (seventh with 54) and América Mineiro (eighth with 53) won the right to play the previous stage of the Libertadores and to seek places in the group stage of the tournament.

And the clubs that guaranteed places in the Copa Sudamericana, which were between tenth and fourteenth in the league standings, were, in their order, Atlético Goianinese, Santos, Ceará, Internacional and Sao Paulo. (D)