Atletico Mineiro: Part Two
Note: This is part two of a three part story! If you haven't already read part one, then you can read it here.
Part two of my Gilberto Pilgrimage took me on a five hour trip to the city of Belo Horizonte. It was the 'second stop' on my map:
Map of Brazil showing where I went
Belo Horizonte is the third most major city in Brazil, and upon arriving there by bus, I noticed that it's also the most bland. Despite this, I was to visit the Estádio Mineirão, Atletico Mineiro's stadium. Atletico Mineiro was Gilberto's first major professional club.
I hired a taxi driver to take me to the stadium (much like I had done in Lagoa da Prata), and he was kind enough to show me around the stadium himself. The day I arrived was not a match day, so I would be having a tour of the empty stadium.
The front of Atletico Mineiro's stadium, Mineirão - and the taxi at the bottom of the photo
Atletico Mineiro's stadium from the air (note: picture from Wikipedia)
To get into the stadium, I had to pay 5 Reais (approximately £2). For this, I could go practically anywhere in the ground. I started in the foyer, and took some photos of the various displays they had set up:
A selection of squad photos at Mineirao Stadium
A mould of Pelé's foot print, made at the ground probably during the 1970s
A miscellaneous trophy from 1965 in the foyer.
A selection of the plaques in the foyer - there were literally hundreds glued to the wall
Much as I tried, among all of these admittedly very interesting displays, I could not find any piece of memorabilia, photo, or even a mention of Gilberto Silva. It was as if he had never played for the club. I asked my taxi-driver-turned-tour-guide if he could see any mention of Gilberto, and he in turn asked a person working at the stadium; but nobody knew of any mention of Gilberto. It was most upsetting, but I continued with the tour regardless. Maybe I would get lucky.
My taxi driver and I went down a complicated set of corridors and stairs. Along the way, I took a few photos of the random stuff which I saw:
Loads of names painted on a wall. I couldn't find Gilberto's there
A sign, translated badly into English, asking players not to train in the goal mouths
One of the many corridors in the Mineirao
Finally getting to the end of the huge maze of corridors, I found a changing room door:
A changing room door...
I tried to open the door, but it was locked. Damn. Gilberto had surely prepared himself for many a game in there - and I wouldn't even get to take a picture of it.
Not giving up, I pressed onwards, keen to find the pitch. It wasn't long before I found the stairs which led up to the pitch:
The stairs which led up to the pitch - my taxi driver led the way...
Finally! I had found the pitch where Gilberto made his name. It had a holy feel to it. To mark the occasion, I took a series of photos from the same spot, turning 45 degrees each time. I glued all the photos together in photoshop and came up with this:
Click the above image for an enlargement. It is a very impressive photo, which is not surprising; because the stadium was very impressive itself. It holds 70,000 fans; when full, it must be a real fortress.
Next, I went upstairs to the upper tier to take some photos from there:
The centre line from upstairs
The seating upstairs
A goal from upstairs
These views were all very exciting, but I still hadn't managed to find a mention of Gilberto Silva anywhere. I was starting to run out of places to look. I went outside to an upper balcony, and found the medical department:
Departamento Medico - the medical department
However, this still was not Gilberto Silva. I was very upset, but had no time to dwell. I had to make a move to my next destination: America Mineiro's ground - the place where Gilberto started his football career as a teenager.
To see what I found at America Mineiro's stadium, click 'Part Three' below!
 Lagoa da Prata: Part One |
 Atlético Mineiro: Part Two |
 América Mineiro: Part Three |
