There are many controversial title/cup wins in football, however there is one less talked about...

This is a thread on Atletico Nacional and their controversial 1989 Copa Libertadores triumph.

In 1989, Nacional became the first Colombian team to ever win the Libertadores. Before that, many Colombian teams have made the final but failed. America de Cali lost 4 finals (famously lost 3 finals in a row from 1985-87). Deportivo Cali lost in 1978 and later on in 1999.

Atletico Nacional reached the final, but unlike their compatriots, they actually won vs Paraguayan giants Olimpia. You would think they would be considered heroes in Colombia right? That wasnt the case.

Before we get started, here is some background about Atletico Nacional. The club are based in the city of Medellin. Their main nickname is El Verde (The green). They have won 16 league titles as of 2021, the most in Colombian football. Their main rivals are Independiente Medellin

Nacional have the 3rd biggest stadium in the Colombian top flight, (Behind Deportivo Cali's Estadio de Palmaseca and Junior Fc's Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez). Nacional's stadium is named Atanasio Girardot Estadio, which is also used by Independiente Medellin.

Now that we talked about the club, lets get to the main part. Why was their 1989 Libertadores win controversial? The short answer is that apparently, they were linked with the Medellin Cartel, Reminder, not much is known about that but lets go into detail about what we do know.

Medellin was seen as a place of poverty and violence back in the 80s. We all know who was the leader of the Medellin Cartel. Pablo Escobar wanted to invest into a local team and the two local teams were Nacional and Medellin. Many people claim the poured money into both clubs.

No one knows which club he supported. Some claim he supported Nacional. Others claim he supported Medellin. I think he was a Nacional supporter but he gave both clubs money because in the end, the most important thing for him was to have a Medellin based club win La Gloria Eterna

Because of the money he gave Nacional, they were able to sign good players and keep their best ones. They also hired Maturana, a Colombian coach who was on the rise at the time and was considered one of Colombia's best managers. Because of all this, Nacional became a powerhouse.

Nacional had an insanely good squad. Rene Higuita in net, Andres Escobar, Leonel Alvarez, Alexis Garcia, and John Jairo Tréllez.

However, Escobar was accused of threatening referees in both the league and the Libertadores. In fact, the 1989 Colombian season was cancelled after referee Alvaro Ortega was assassinated, (May he Rest in Peace ).

Because of all this, CONMEBOL banned Colombian teams from the Libertadores in 1990, (besides Nacional as they were the reigning champions, but they were forced to play home games in Chile).

One controversial example of Pablo Escobar bribing referees was when it was claimed he sent armed men to the refs to help Nacional win in the semi-finals vs Danubio from Uruguay or else, they would be k1ll3d. Nacional ended up winning 6-0 at home after the 1st leg finished 0-0.

The manager himself Maturana said, "The introduction of drug money into futbol allowed us to bring in great foreign players. It also kept our best players from leaving. Our level of play took off. People saw our situation and said Pablo was involved. But they couldn’t prove it."

All of this made the 1989 win very controversial. However, this does not deny the fact that Nacional had a very good squad. They finished 2nd in their group with Millonarios (Colombia), Deportivo Quito (Ecuador), and Emelec (Ecuador). They then drew Racing Club.

Nacional beat the Argentine giants 3-2 on aggregate. They faced Millonarios again in the quarter-finals. They won 2-1 on aggregate. In the semi-finals, they faced Danubio and like I said earlier, they won 6-0 in the 2nd leg to win 6-0 on aggregate. Now, Olimpia in the final.

Olimpia are one of the biggest clubs in South America. They won 45 league titles and 3 Libertadores. They were a very tough opponent in the final. The first leg of the final in Paraguay finished 2-0 to Olimpia. Nacional had to score two at home to tie it up.

They won 2-0 in the second leg after an OG by Miño and a goal by Usurriaga. After an intense penalty shootout, Alvarez scored the winning pen to give Nacional and Colombia their first ever Libertadores. Olimpia ended up winning the trophy the following year.

Despite all the controversy, Atletico Nacional finally won Colombia's first Libertadores. They had an excellent squad and I think even without all that mess that happened, Nacional would have still won the Libertadores.

Now in present day, the days of the Cartel are over and Medellin is a much safer place. Nacional even won the Libertadores in 2016 against Independiente Del Valle. The dark chapter in both Colombian football and Colombian history is put behind us.

Nacional are not the only Colombian team that have won a Libertadores. Once Caldas won it as well in 2004. (I made another thread about them as make sure to check it out).

https://twitter.com/real_fan13/status/1349757865100271621

The 2016 Libertadores win was absolutely deserved and that was a win in which the players and fans believed in themselves and won it despite not being favorites. However 1989 will always remain controversial and us Colombians are very disappointed that this dark chapter happened

However, he times now are much better and the Colombian league is growing with many good young players coming through and with lots of competition in the league.

Thank you for reading this thread and make sure to like, retweet and give me suggestions for more threads you want to see. Im thinking maybe a thread about Andres Escobar, the Colombian CB who was shot and murdered. (Rest in peace ).

Also as a Junior Fc fan, I want to say this:

"Verde hijo de p*ta, con Pablo no hay duda, saliste campeon. JUNIOR NUNCA SE VENDIO."

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