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When Santos FC faced Barcelona for the first time,
Santos FC won by 5x1,
playing spectacularly.
Talking about that match is easy,
it was one of the most remarkable matches
Santos FC played in Europe,
specially against Barcelona.
It was a wonderful 5x1 victory,
against a team...
considered to be one of the most important European teams,
along with Real Madrid,
besides Internazionale Milano,
they used to be the top European teams.
Santos FC, in a wonderful evening,
defeated Barcelona with a 5x1 victory,
against a attack line, and I still remember very well,
composed by several world class players,
between them, two epic Hungarians,
Kocsis, a center forward,
and a great left winger,
Czibor.
Czibor was their left winger.
Comparing him with Pepe would be impossible,
Pepe used to be one of the wonders of the world.
We didn't go there only to play against Barcelona,
we faced them during our tour,
we had played in Germany, Belgium, several countries.
We knew Barcelona was a strong team.
They had a very strong team...
- They had several foreigners. - Yes.
Barcelona had many foreigners in their squad,
their team was one of the best teams
we faced on our tour,
one of the best squads.
However, it was one of the easiest victories of the tour.
In that victory over Barcelona,
one of their most important players was the Evaristo de Macedo,
who had left Brazil to play in Spain.
He was one of the first players who went to Spain.
Evaristo de Macedo, curiously,
scored Barcelona's solitary goal
in the 5x1 Santos FC victory.
In 1993,
Evaristo coached Santos FC.
He didn't manage to win any expressive titles in that year.
It was a 5x1 defeat,
Coutinho scored once, Dorval twice,
and Pelé, as always, being the team's top scorer,
scored twice.
We scored 5 goals.
We used to attack using 6 players,
our 5 offensive players plus a defensive midfielder.
Sometimes it was Zito, sometimes it was Mengálvio,
one or another,
we used to attack with 6 players.
Therefore, it was easier for us to score.
Their players were world class players,
both Barcelona and Real Madrid
used to sign world class players,
such as the two excellent players Barcelona signed
from the Golden Team,
which came to Brazil
and won almost all matches they disputed,
they played against Flamengo and many other Brazilian teams.
Their National Team had players such as Púskas,
I had the fortune to face him when we played Real Madrid,
Púskas used to play for them.
Several players who were part of the Hungarian National Team
used to play in Spain.
I think the Barcelona squad we faced in 1959 was great,
it was a great team.
It's hard to make comparisons between that team and their current squad,
two completely different periods.
Soccer has completely changed,
it has changed.
It's hard to compare them,
but they had an excellent team, excellent.
Nobody knew Santos FC,
it was our first European tour,
we were an unknown team in Europe.
We didn't know the European teams very well,
and when we faced them we used to do a show.
We had Pelé, who had just played for the National Team,
Zito playing in the midfield, Pepe in the left wing,
I have a Spanish ancestry,
Barcelona always wanted to sign me,
not Real Madrid because they had Gento playing as a left winger,
so Barcelona also wanted a high level left winger,
that's why they wanted to sign me.
When I played against them I was actually being observed,
not that I would player better,
but I had a little more responsibility,
but I used to handle it.
It also happened to Coutinho and other great players,
but Santos FC never negotiated its players.
So...
other Clubs were interested in us, but we chose to stay.
We felt good playing for Santos FC, the Club was our home,
and still is.
Barcelona has always developed its own players,
always supporting its youth academy players,
taking into account the fact that most of the players were raised there,
signing only one or two players.
That also happened with Santos FC in the 50's,
Pelé, Coutinho, Edu, Dorval,
they were developed by the Club.
Those players carry the colors of Santos FC in their hearts,
so, they give everything they have and even more
during the matches, during their careers.
When I coached Pep Guardiola,
he used to ask me a lot about how that Santos FC used to play,
and Barcelona has adapted itself to our style of play,
using two-touch plays.
- They have a great ball possession. - Ball possession was crucial.
However, our coach, Lula,
wanted us to score,
he didn't care about how many times we touched the ball,
he wanted us to get to the goal and score as fast as possible.
I think it's important to pay attention to that aspect,
but this current Barcelona,
considering the squads which preceded them,
is still preserving their ball possession characteristic.
It's important for them...
to have the ball possession for a longer time.
Whoever it was,
always being respectful,
respecting all opponents,
but we used to go there...
and defeat them.
We did beautiful things during that tour.
We wrote Santos FC's name in history,
we settled Santos FC's cornerstone in Europe.
Almost the whole world will pay attention to this match,
as well as we will,
the entire world will follow up to get to know everything about it,
the score, the players behavior,
several things.
I think it will be a good thing,
and a very good experience for Santos FC.
Barcelona and Santos FC are playing on August, 2nd, for the 2013 Joan Gamper Trohpy