November 6 – Games between Sao Paulo rivals, Corinthians and Palmeiras, in the Brazilian championship are heated at the best of times, however at the weekend, Corinthians fans took a page out of the Barcelona playbook by throwing a pig’s head on to the pitch.
Back in 2002 after Portuguese superstar and Barca legend, Luis Figo, made the highly controversial move to Real Madrid, his former faithful threw a pig’s head at the feet of Figo as he took a corner at his former home, the Nou Camp during El Classico.
At Arena Corithians, Palmeiras prepared to take a corner in the first half and Corinthians forward Yuri Alberto ran from the penalty box and kicked the offending head off the pitch.
“I almost broke my foot, I thought it was a cushion, I went to take it off with my foot, I kind of kicked it. It was a pig’s head, I almost hurt my foot,” said Alberto to Brazilian TV. Alberto went on to score as Corinthians won the game 2-0.
It has been reported that the police are investigating the incident and that two fans were arrested before being released.
The Pig has long been part of the Palmeiras fan’s heritage as they adopted the animal as their mascot in 1986. In a match against Santos, they heard rival fans chanting ‘pig’ and responded by shouting ‘And go for it Pig! Ole Ole Ole’. A few days later sports magazine Placar published a picture of Palmeiras player, Jorginho Putinatti, holding a pig in his arms and so the tradition began.
Tim Vickery, a long-time correspondent of South American football posted on X “A new one on me – the big traditional Sao Paulo derby, Corinthians v Palmeiras and someone has thrown a pig’s head on the field.”
Corinthians who currently sit in midtable obscurity despite the win, will feel like they took home the bacon though. The victory dented the club nicknamed ‘Porco’ (pig) hopes of moving back on level terms with Botafogo who sit on top of the table with a three-point lead.