Knowledge

Clássico Mineiro

A Clássico Mineiro played at the Estádio Antônio Carlos in 1941.
Atlético Mineiro Cruzeiro
Other names	Superclássico Mineiro
Location	Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
First meeting	April 17, 1921 Friendly match Palestra Itália 3–0 Atlético
Latest meeting	August 10, 2024 2024 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Cruzeiro 0–0 Atlético
Statistics
Most wins	Atlético Mineiro
Most player appearances	Fábio (65)
Top scorer	Guará (26)
Largest victory	Atlético Mineiro 9–2 Palestra Itália Campeonato Mineiro November 27, 1927

Atlético Mineiro

Cruzeiro

The Clássico Mineiro (English: Derby of Minas Gerais) is the football derby between Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro, both teams from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is one of the fiercest rivalries in Brazilian and South American football.

The two clubs practically monopolize the Campeonato Mineiro, and have clashed in decisive matches in the Brasileirão, Copa do Brasil and continental CONMEBOL competitions of.

Atlético was founded in the early years of the 20th Century, on March 25, 1908. Cruzeiro was founded 13 years later, on January 2, 1921, among the Belo Horizonte's Italian community, as Palestra Itália. In 1942, due to the enmity between Brazil and Italy in the World War II, Palestra had to change its name to Cruzeiro.

The first derby took place on April 17, 1921, with Palestra winning 3–0. The first official match between the two was a 2–1 Atlético win, on May 15, 1921.

Atlético Mineiro's largest win in the history of the Clássico was on November 27, 1927, in a Campeonato Mineiro match. Galo, which was undefeated that season, thrashed Palestra Itália 9–2 and secured its third Championship title.

In the 1931 Campeonato Mineiro, both Atlético and Palestra finished the competition at the top of the table, tied on points. Thus, according to the rules of the championship, a tie-breaking final was necessary, the first one in the history of the fixture. On November 29, Atlético won the first leg 2–1 at Palestra's stadium. The second leg, which would take place on December 6 at Atlético's stadium, less than 1 mile away from their rival's, did not happen. Atlético had not hired a referee from Rio de Janeiro, as it had been agreed, then gave a list to Palestra with three others from Minas Gerais, which the Italians refused. In addition to that, the preliminary match between their reserve teams had already ended in a fight. The Federation tried to reschedule the match, but Palestra Itália left the entity, which ended up proclaming Galo the champions. As a result of this conflict, in 1932, there were two different championships in Minas Gerais, organized by different associations.

In the finals of the 1956 Campeonato Mineiro, after an 1–1 in the first match and a 0–0 in the second, Atlético won the third match 1–0 and won the championship for the fifth time in a row. However, before the last game, Cruzeiro claimed that Atlético had irregularly called in the player Laércio in the second match. Only in 1959, the Superior Court of Sport Justice (STJD) gave the points of the second match to Cruzeiro, legitimizing the club's claim. As the final was now tied and the clubs were against the idea of scheduling a fourth match, the Federation proclaimed both Atlético and Cruzeiro the champions.

The first derby outside of Minas Gerais took place on June 16, 1960, in a friendly match at the Israel Pinheiro Stadium in Brasília, Brazil's recentely founded capital. The clubs were invited to celebrate the peace between the two, by the president Juscelino Kubitschek, born in Minas Gerais and a Cruzeiro fan. This was the only Clássico outside Minas Gerais in Brazil's territory, which ended in a 2–2 draw.

The Estádio Governardor Magalhães Pinto, better known as Mineirão, opened on September 5, 1965, and became the home ground of both teams for decades. The first derby at the stadium took place on October 24, 1965, for the Campeonato Mineiro. In the 79th minute of the match, when Cruzeiro was winning 1–0 with a goal from Tostão, the referee Juan de La Passion Artéz rawarded a penalty to the Raposa. Atlético's players were outraged with the signaling and some of them fought with the referee and the police. Galo's coach and more nine players were sent off. The referee ended the match with a Cruzeiro win in the Clássico.

The beginning of the "Mineirão Era" coincided with a period of dominance by Cruzeiro. With a richly talented team comprising Raul, Piazza, Dirceu Lopes, Natal and Tostão, the Foxes won the 1966 Campeonato Brasileiro and five successive state titles from 1965 to 1969, as Atlético were the runners-up on each occasion.

The first Campeonato Brasileiro match between the two was a 4–0 win for Cruzeiro on March 5, 1967, with an attendance of 91,042 people at Mineirão.

By the mid-70s and 80s, Atlético Mineiro established an impressive cast of players of their own, with João Leite, Luizinho, Cerezo, Paulo Isidoro, Nelinho, Éder and Reinaldo making them one of the most revered forces in Brazilian football. During this period, they consistently outstripped Cruzeiro in their matches and won the Campeonato Mineiro 11 times in 14 seasons along the way.

In the quarterfinals of the 1986 Campeonato Brasileiro, Atlético and Cruzeiro faced each other for the first time in the knock-out stage of a national tournament. Galo advenced after two draws, in 0–0 and 1–1, since the team with the better campaign had the advantadge in case of a tie.

The 1993 Copa de Oro reunited the champions of CONMEBOL competitions in 1992. Atlético, as the champions of the Copa Conmebol, and Cruzeiro, as the champions of the Supercopa Libertadores, faced each other in the semi-finals, in a single match at Mineirão. After a 0–0 draw, Atlético advanced to the finals after winning 5–4 on penalties.

The Clássico took place in the quarterfinals of the Campeonato Brasileiro again in 1999, after Atlético finished 7th and Cruzeiro 2nd in the first stage. Atlético won the first match 4–2 and the second one 3–2. The topscorer of the championship, Guilherme, scored 4 goals against Cruzeiro and Galo advanced to the semi-finals.

The first and only derby outside Brazil was on January 17, 2009, for the semi-finals of the Uruguayan friendly tournament Copa Bimbo. Cruzeiro won 4–2 at the famous Estadio Centenário.

Cruzeiro's largest win in the Clássico was on December 4, 2011, in the last round of the Campeonato Brasileiro. The Foxes could be relegated for the first time if they lost the derby, but thrashed Atlético 6–1 at the Arena do Jacaré.

After Atlético winning the 2013 Copa Libertadores and the 2014 Recopa Sudamericana, and Cruzeiro winning the Campeonato Brasileiro in 2013 and 2014, both rivals made to the finals of the 2014 Copa do Brasil. This was the first time a national level tournament final featured both Belo Horizonte clubs. The first game took place at the Arena Independência and Atlético won 2–0. In the second match, Cruzeiro was the home team at Mineirão and Galo won again, by 1–0, being crowned champions of the competition for the first time.

The Clássico took place in the Copa do Brasil again in 2019, this time, in the quarterfinals. Cruzeiro won the first leg 3–0 at Mineirão and lost the second leg 2–0 at Independência, thus winning 3–2 on aggregate and advancing to the semi-finals.

The rivalry between the supporters of Atlético and Cruzeiro is very heated and can be seen in numerous provocative flags, tifos, chants and player celebrations towards the opposing side on derby days, in addition to some violent conflicts between groups of fans. Regarding to nicknames, Atlético fans refer to Cruzeiro supporters as "marias", a play on the name of their rivals' main Torcida organizada, Máfia Azul (Blue Mafia). Meanwhile, Cruzeiro fans refer to their rivals as "frangas" (chickens), mocking Atlético's mascot, the rooster.

From 1965 to 2010, almost every derby between Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro took place at Mineirão, with the fans splitting the stadium in half. Cruzeiro supporters took the city side, to the right of the press tribunes, while Atlético supporters occupied the lake side, to the left. These names are a reference to the Pampulha Lake, next to the stadium.

Both fanbases claim to be the biggest one in Minas Gerais and the people's club of the state. On Atlético Mineiro's side, the club opened its doors to players from every social class, nationality or ethnicity from an early age, earning a status of a popular club. As a result of this vast popular support, the fans came to be collectively known as "A Massa" (The Mass). On Cruzeiro's side, the club was founded as the representative of the Italian colony of Belo Horizonte, and stood out for having a strong participation from the working class of the community, unlike Atlético and América, which were founded by upper-class students. Alluding to that, in 2015, Cruzeiro's marketing started using the "people's club" slogan, to which Atlético respodend in the same year, claiming to be the "true people's club".

According to a 2014 Datafolha survey, reproduced by Globoesporte.com, the results are these:

• Atlético: 2% (4.1 million people).
• Cruzeiro: 3% (6.1 million people).

Source: Datafolha

According to a 2014 survey by IBOPE, reproduced by Globoesporte.com, the results are these:

• Atlético: 3.5% (7.1 million people).
• Cruzeiro: 3.1% (6.3 million people).

Source: Ibope

According to a 2023 survey by AtlasIntel, the results are these:

• Atlético: 4.3% of supporters.
• Cruzeiro: 6.1% of supporters.

Source: AtlasIntel

According to a 2024 survey by Quaest, demanded by CNN Brazil and the Itatiaia radio network, the results are these:

• Atlético: 4% of supporters.
• Cruzeiro: 4% of supporters.

Source: Quaest

Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro have their own different versions of the statistics of the fixture. From the first derby on April 17, 1921, to the mid-1940s, there was no practice of registering the data and results of the games in an official summary. Atlético counts all the times the teams went to the playing field and faced each other. Cruzeiro says it does not consider games in which one of them played with their reserve team ("time de aspirantes"). Interestingly, however, there are matches that entered Cruzeiro's accounts that do not appear in Atlético's records.

Statistics
Matches	525
Atlético wins	212
Cruzeiro wins	173
Drawn	140
Goals
Atlético goals	742
Cruzeiro goals	657

Statistics
Matches	507
Atlético wins	200
Cruzeiro wins	172
Drawn	135
Goals
Atlético goals	711
Cruzeiro goals	646

Player	Club	Goals
Guará	Atlético	26
Niginho	Cruzeiro	25
Alcides Lemos	Cruzeiro	22
Orlando Fantoni	Cruzeiro	18
Reinaldo	Atlético	16
Ubaldo	Atlético
Abelardo	Cruzeiro	15
Lucas Miranda	Atlético

Source: Superesportes

• The player with most appearances in the Clássico for Cruzeiro is Fábio, with 65 matches.
• The player with most appearances in the Clássico for Atlético is João Leite, with 57 matches.
• Nelinho is the second player with most appearances in the Clássico, with 37 matches for Cruzeiro and 27 for Atlético.

Source: O Tempo

From Atlético Mineiro:

Date	Match	Event	Stadium
November 27, 1927	Atlético 9–2 Palestra	1927 Campeonato Mineiro	América's ground
June 21, 1936	Palestra 1–6 Atlético	1936 Campeonato Mineiro	Barro Preto
May 27, 1942	Atlético 6–1 Palestra	Friendly	Lourdes
June 21, 1953	Atlético 5–0 Cruzeiro	1953 Campeonato Mineiro	Lourdes

From Cruzeiro:

Date	Match	Event	Stadium
December 4, 2011	Cruzeiro 6–1 Atlético	2011 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A	Arena do Jacaré
April 27, 2008	Atlético 0–5 Cruzeiro	2008 Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão
April 26, 2009	Cruzeiro 5–0 Atlético	2009 Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão

Sources: Cruzeiropédia Superesportes

Team	Period	Nº of matches	Results
Atlético	1985 to 1987	13	Five wins and eight draws
Cruzeiro	2007 to 2009	12	Ten wins and two draws
Atlético	2013 to 2015	11	Six wins and five draws
Atlético	1947 to 1948	10	Nine wins and one draw
Atlético	1937 to 1939		Eight wins and two draws
Cruzeiro	1966 to 1968		Five wins and five draws
Atlético	1970 to 1972		Four wins and six draws
Cruzeiro	2000 to 2002		Three wins and seven draws

Source: Globoesporte.com

Games	Club	Period
7	Cruzeiro	November 15, 1964 – February 9, 1966
	Cruzeiro	April 27, 2008 – April 26, 2009
6	Atlético	April 8, 1938 – January 8, 1939
5	Cruzeiro	May 28, 1933 – April 1, 1934
	Atlético	1 February 1942 4 October 1942
	Atlético	July 13, 1947 – April 13, 1948
	Atlético	May 17, 1951 – March 16, 1952

Stadium	Matches	Atlético wins	Draws	Cruzeiro wins	Atlético goals	Cruzeiro goals
Mineirão	58	19	22	17	69	67
Arena Independência	9	6	1	2	17	12
Arena do Jacaré	3	0	0	3	2	9
Parque do Sabiá	2	2	0	0	5	3
Arena MRV	2	1	0	1	3	1
Total	74	28	23	23	96	92

Source: A história do Clássico Mineiro

Since 2003, when the Campeonato Brasileiro adopted the round-robin system, one of the teams has beaten their rivals in both matches 7 times. The results are arranged based on the order in which the matches were played, from left to right.

Season	Team	Results
2004	Atlético	2–0	3–0
2005	Cruzeiro	2–1	1–0
2007	Cruzeiro	4–2	4–3
2008	Cruzeiro	2–1	2–0
2011	Cruzeiro	2–1	6–1
2014	Atlético	2–1	3–2
2017	Atlético	3–1	3–1

P.	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
1	1										1	1							1
2								2		2			2
3						3												3			3
4							4							4
5					5							5			5
6																6
7	7						7													7
8			8		8						8		8			8
9										9					9
10				10
11
12						12								12
13		13						13									13				13
14
15									15
16									16
17																	17
18
19		19
20			20
21
22
23
24
Série B
1				1																1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11																		11
12
13
14																			14

• Total: Cruzeiro 11 times higher, Atlético 10 times higher.

List of the 20 largest attendances in the history of the Clássico Mineiro.

Date	Match	Event	Stadium	Attendance
May 4, 1969	Atlético 0–1 Cruzeiro	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	123,351
October 9, 1977	Cruzeiro 3–1 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	122,534
October 26, 1980	Cruzeiro 0–1 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	115,983
November 8, 1981	Atlético 1–1 Cruzeiro	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	112,919
June 2, 1968	Cruzeiro 2–1 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	110,432
December 15, 1974	Cruzeiro 2–1 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	109,363
December 5, 1982	Cruzeiro 1–2 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	108,935
August 2, 1970	Cruzeiro 1–2 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	106,155
April 3, 1977	Atlético 2–0 Cruzeiro	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	103,725
April 25, 1976	Atlético 2–1 Cruzeiro	Taça Minas Gerais	Mineirão	101,404
December 9, 1984	Atlético 1–0 Cruzeiro	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	99,174
March 27, 1977	Cruzeiro 0–2 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	99,044
January 29, 1978	Atlético 2–1 Cruzeiro	Campeonato Brasileiro	Mineirão	98,778
September 18, 1966	Cruzeiro 2–0 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	97,965
September 28, 1969	Cruzeiro 2–1 Atlético	Campeonato Brasileiro	Mineirão	97,928
February 8, 1987	Cruzeiro 0–0 Atlético	Campeonato Brasileiro	Mineirão	94,381
September 10, 1967	Cruzeiro 0–0 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	93,577
August 7, 1977	Atlético 0–0 Cruzeiro	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	91,696
March 5, 1967	Cruzeiro 4–0 Atlético	Campeonato Brasileiro	Mineirão	91,042
February 18, 1979	Cruzeiro 1–2 Atlético	Campeonato Mineiro	Mineirão	90,894

Competitions	Atlético Mineiro	Cruzeiro
Copa Libertadores	1	2
Recopa Sudamericana	1	1
Supercopa Libertadores	-	2
Copa Conmebol	2	-
Copa Master de Supercopa	-	1
Copa de Oro	-	1
Brazilian Championship	3	4
Brazil Cup	2	6
Brazil Supercup	1	-
Champions Cup (CBD)	1	-
Brazilian Championship Série B	1	1
Campeonato Mineiro	49	38
Supercampeonato Mineiro	-	1
Copa Sul-Minas	-	2
Copa Centro-Oeste	-	1
Total General	61	60

Note: Although Cruzeiro considers itself champions of the Campeonato Mineiro in 1926, officially, Atlético Mineiro is the only champion of the competition in that year. Therefore, officially, Cruzeiro have 38 Campeonatos Mineiro titles.