In football, the thing is very simple, to become a champion, you have to win. However, in Peruvian football, there was a year with such an unusual ending that it caused a dilemma for the team that was about to become champion. We are talking about the Universidad San Martín in 2008.
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The 'saints' had become champions in 2007. They won the Apertura and since Bolognesi, the winner of the Clausura, did not finish among the top 7 of the first tournament, USMP was proclaimed champion without the need for a final.
The team led by 'Chino' Rivera wanted to repeat the feat in 2008. After a dominant Torneo Clausura, the team from Santa Anita already knew they were winners three rounds in advance, they just had to wait for Universitario de Deportes (the winner of the Apertura) not to finish among the top 7 of the Clausura to achieve back-to-back championships directly.
What the San Martín team did not expect is that they could have a direct impact on the chances of Universitario.
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Losing to Win the Championship?
Universitario de Deportes needed to reach 7th place to enjoy the national final. To do this, they competed with several clubs, including FBC Melgar, Universidad César Vallejo, and José Gálvez, paradoxically, the last opponents of Universidad San Martín in the Torneo Clausura.
In other words, if San Martín won those matches, there was a possibility that 'U' would finish seventh, so they would have to play a final against the 'cremas', but if they lost, they ensured that Universitario was left out and they could be national champions directly.
A not very motivated white team went out to face Melgar, a match in which they lost 1-0. In that match, Leao Butrón and Roberto Ovelar were sent off.
In the next match, San Martín lost again at home, this time to Universidad César Vallejo. In the last match, the 'saints' drew 2-2 against José Gálvez.
These results did not go well for Universitario (who also had their own setbacks). Ricardo Gareca's team finished in tenth place in the championship, with no possibilities of playing for the national title.
The 'saints' celebrated their back-to-back championship after the draw with Gálvez, a result of a great winning streak and a clever final sprint, in which cleverness and mathematics prevailed over the idea of always going out to win.