Peñarol's golden five-year periods
Uruguayan Peñarol is one of the biggest clubs in the world and its track record proves it, even though it is currently unable to compete against the best teams in the world as it was able to do in the 60s. Possibly, two of the most important eras in the glorious history of the club are the two golden five-year periods, where they won 5 league championships in a row. Today we are going to review those stages of the black and gold club and how they won those championships.
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A little of context
Since the amateur era of Uruguayan football, there was already a rivalry between Nacional and Peñarol, as they accumulated local league titles together, arriving very evenly matched at the start of professional football in 1932. That first professional championship remained in the black and gold's trophy cabinet and from there began a duel between the two giants, who shared out the league trophies, including five consecutive championships for Nacional between 1939 and 1943 (a feat they have not been able to repeat to this day), just after Peñarol won four in a row.First golden five-year period
In 1957, Ondino Viera's Nacional won its third consecutive championship and accumulated 25, moving away from its great rival that had been left with 20. In 1958, Gaston Guelfi arrived as president of the club, accompanied by Washington Cataldi and together they would begin a new golden era for the club, bringing in coach Hugo Bagnulo, who had just been coach of the Uruguay national team. Bagnulo would lead the club to the championship in that same 1958, achieving the first of a series of championships for the black and gold. In 1959, a Peñarol scout saw an Ecuadorian striker playing with his national team that left him impressed and after Bagnulo's approval, he went to Ecuador to close his signing, making him the first Ecuadorian football player to play abroad. His name was Alberto Spencer.Spencer's arrival was joined by that of Argentine Carlos Abel Linazza, with whom the Ecuadorian formed a great duo despite the fact that at first both were somewhat resisted by the Uruguayan football community. Spencer's arrival was joined by the Argentine Carlos Abel Linazza, with whom the Ecuadorian formed a great duo despite the fact that at first both were somewhat resisted by the Uruguayan football world. Bagnulo also led the team to win the 1959 championship, the year in which he left office and was succeeded by Roberto Scarone, with whom Peñarol would win 3 more championships, achieving its first golden five-year period. As a curious fact, the team only lost one match in each season it won between 1960 and 1962.
That Peñarol was a team that used to easily beat its rivals in Uruguay but it was a bit reluctant to make it to the international stage until 1960, when it won the Copa Libertadores against Olimpia of Paraguay, in a very even match that favored the Uruguayans by an aggregate score of 2-1. The team was on its way to becoming world champions for the first time in its history, however, in the Intercontinental Cup they met Di Stefano's Real Madrid, with whom they tied 0-0 at the Centenario in the first leg but then fell 5-1 in Spain.
A year later, the black and gold team was reinforced by Joya and Sasia and won the Copa Libertadores again, this time against Palmeiras. This time, the Intercontinental Cup would not slip away, with the rival being Eusebio's Benfica. Benfica won in Lisbon while Peñarol did so easily in Montevideo (5-0). This led to a play-off match that the Uruguayan team won 2-1, with two goals from Sasia. Thus, Peñarol becomes the first South American club to win the world championship.
Second golden five-year period
By 1993, it had been 7 years since Peñarol's last league championship and Nacional had just won its last one, after 9 years of failing to do so. The Uruguayan championship had had a diversity of champions like few times in its history, clubs like Danubio, Defensor Sporting or Bella Vista, had been consecrated between the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s. Curiously, as in the first golden five-year period, it began with a new presidential period, this time of Jose Damiani, who promised great triumphs for the team and from there he began to bring in reinforcements and a new manager.The man chosen to sit on the bench was Gregorio Perez and among the signings was Pablo Bengoechea, who came with a career in Spain and Argentina and who would stay 10 years in the club, reaching the level of idol for the black and gold fans. That team would achieve three consecutive championships, the last one requiring playing 3 classic matches against Nacional. The tie in the table forced to play the finals and as the first two ended in a draw in the aggregate, a third was played that Peñarol would win 3-1, with one of the goals being the work of Bengoechea.
Perez would leave the club at the end of that championship to go and coach Independiente de Avellaneda and Jorge Fossati would arrive, who was beginning his career as a coach after a couple of seasons at River Plate of Montevideo. The manager continued with the streak of titles, winning the fourth in a row despite having suffered the departure of some players such as Dario Silva who emigrated to Europe. 1997 would see the return of Gregorio Perez and with this, the fifth consecutive title for the black and gold club that would not win either the Apertura or the Clausura tournament, however, by finishing as leader of the general table of the year, it had the right to play the semifinals against the champion of the Apertura, in this case, Nacional.
The club's second golden five-year period was achieved by defeating Nacional, which had players such as Ruben Sosa, who had returned to Uruguay after his great stints with Lazio and Inter in Italy. The match would start with a free kick goal by Sosa himself and then by Zalzar, to put the score at 2-0 in favor of Nacional. However, Peñarol would make a historic comeback to win the match 3-2 and qualify for the final, which they would later win 4-0 on aggregate against Defensor Sporting.