Oh, Jesus! It’s a miracle

European champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) suffered a shock 0-1 Club World Cup defeat to Brazilian side Botafogo on Thursday.

PSG are one of the favourites to win FIFA’s 32-team tournament after a dazzling season which culminated with a scintillating 5-0 demolition of Inter Milan in the Champions League final. However, their hopes of securing a victory which would have seen them become the first side into the Round-of-16 were stymied by a resilient performance from their opponents from Rio de Janeiro.  

Luis Enrique

Botafogo took the lead against the run of play in the 36th minute as Jefferson Savarino’s through ball split the PSG defence and released Igor Jesus. He then did brilliantly to wrongfoot defender Willian Pacho before striking a shot that took a slight deflection past PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma on its way to the net.

“A lot of people wondered, but we showed how strong Botafogo is,” goalscorer Jesus said after the win, which kept all of South America’s representatives unbeaten at the competition in the USA.

“We knew it was going to be a very difficult match — they defended very well. They were the team that defended the best against us all season. This Club World Cup is very intense and all the teams are highly motivated, especially when they’re playing against us,” said PSG boss Luis Enrique.

All you need to know about Botafogo

‘Set on fire’: The literal meaning of the word Botafogo is ‘set on fire,’ in Portuguese.  It is derived from the nickname given to the San Joao Baptista ship, one of the most powerful Portuguese warships of the 16th century. The club is officially called Botafogo de Futbol e Regatas

Birthed from a rowing club:  Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas is the result of a merger between two clubs founded in Rio de Janeiro — Club de Regatas Botafogo 
(a rowing club) and Botafogo Football Cub

Garrincha was here: Botafogo has won the Brazilian League thrice and their contribution to the country’s football is deep. Legendary Brazilian attacker Garrincha played for the club. Garrincha and Santos’s Pele formed the backbone of the Brazil team that won back-to-back World Cups (1958, 1962) 

Nurtured Zagallo: The club also nurtured Mario Zagallo, who is one of only three people in history to win the World Cup as both  player and manager — the others are France’s Didier Deschamps and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer. Although Zagallo began his playing career at Flamengo, he went on to play for Botafogo for seven years before taking charge 
of the club side

Not all plain sailing: The club went 20 years without a title, between 1969 to 1988. They also faced adversity post 1995, twice being relegated to the Brazilian second division

On the rise again: The Brazilian club won its maiden Copa Libertadores title in 2024, along with the Brazlian League, just three years after securing promotion from the second division

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