The Clássico Mineiro (English: Minas Gerais Derby) is the name given to Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro football rivalry, both teams from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is one of the fiercest rivalries in Brazilian and South American football.
History
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, with the name Palestra Italia. In 1942, because of the enmity between Brazil and Italy in the World War II, Palestra had to change the name to Cruzeiro.
The first encounter between the two took place on April 17, 1921, with Palestra winning by 3–0. The first championship game between the two took place on May 15, 1921, Atlético winning by 2–1.
Atlético and Cruzeiro star in one of the greatest rivalries in the world. The two clubs from Belo Horizonte monopolize the Campeonato Mineiro, and have clashed in decisive matches in the Brasileirão, Copa do Brasil and continental CONMEBOL competitions of.
In 2014, the rivals decided the finals of 2014 Copa do Brasil, the first at national level to feature both Belo Horizonte clubs. The first game took place at Estádio Independência and Atlético won 2–0. In the second match, at Mineirão, with Cruzeiro as the home team, Galo won again, Atlético won 1-0, being crowned champions of the competition.
Statistics
The two teams have different numbers of matches. The first match between the two clubs took place on April 17, 1921 and from this period until the mid-1940s, there was no practice of registering in an official summary the data and results of the games.
Atlético Mineiro 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 the teams entered with a team of aspirants. Interestingly, however, there are matches that entered Cruzeiro's accounts that do not appear in Atlético's records.
Atlético Mineiro version
Cruzeiro version
Historic routs
Supporters
According to a Datafolha survey, and reproduced by Globoesporte.com, the results are these:
Atlético: 2% (5 million people). Cruzeiro: 3% (7.6 million people).
Source: Datafolha
According to a survey by IBOPE, and reproduced by Globoesporte.com, the results are these:
Atlético: 3,5% (7.0 million people). Cruzeiro: 3,1% (6,2 million people).
Source: Ibope
Concurrence
Source: Superesportes
Titles comparison
Note: Although Cruzeiro considers itself champions of the Campeonato Mineiro in 1926, officially the Atlético Mineiro is the only official champion of this competition. Making officially Cruzeiro have 38 Campeonatos Mineiros.