FIRST GAME AT FLAMENGO! SEE HOW TITE'S OTHER DEBUTS WERE BY SERIA A TEAMS IN BRAZILIANO

Cruzeiro x Flamengo has a special attraction for the 27th round of the Brazilian Championship. Next Thursday, at 7pm (Brasília time) at Mineirão, Tite returns to managing a club after seven years, six of them dedicated to the Seleção. Today, one of the most successful coaches in Brazil, the 62-year-old Gaucho has already cut twice the competition to win in his debuts each year. After the first victory, however, it took off.

Tite played his first game in Série A on August 2, 2001, when the competition was still decided in the knockout stages. He commanded Grêmio and arrived at the championship with morale, as he had just been champion of Rio Grande do Sul and the Copa do Brasil. But he debuted in a 2-0 defeat to Athletico-PR, at Arena da Baixada, in the first round of the Brasileirão. Afterwards, he had a good campaign and only stopped in the quarter-finals, after a setback against Atlético-MG.

Afterwards, he had two more debuts with Grêmio, one with São Caetano and another with Corinthians. . They drew three and lost one.

In 2002, another debut away from home, and this time it was 1-1 with Palmeiras at the old Parque Antártica. The following year, still in charge of Grêmio, he returned to Arena da Baixada on his debut and was beaten 2-0 by Athletico-PR. In the same edition (the first by straight points), he debuted for São Caetano in the 1-1 at home against Juventude, in the 23rd round. In 2004, he took over Corinthians in the eighth round and ended 1-1 with São Paulo at Morumbi.

The first successful debut took place at Atlético-MG, in 2005, and included a rout: 4-1 over Figueirense at Mineirão, in the opening of the championship. Afterwards, he started a sequence starting on the right foot: 2-1 with Palmeiras over Santa Cruz at Parque Antártica, in the sixth round of the 2006 Brazilian Championship; repeated the 2-1 with Internacional over Botafogo in Beira-Rio, also in the sixth round of 2008; Still in Colorado, he scored 1-0 against Corinthians against Pacaembu in the opening of Série A in 2009; and with Corinthians they beat Palmeiras 1-0 at home, in the 31st round in 2010, and beat Grêmio 2-1 at Olímpico in 2011, the year of their first Brazilian title.

After six consecutive victories in their debuts in Series A, Tite lost to Corinthians in the opening of the 2012 championship: they lost 1-0 to Fluminense at Pacaembu. The following year, he drew 1-1 at home with Botafogo in the first round. The coach, who did not work in 2014, only debuted again with a triumph in 2015, precisely in the year of his second Brazilian title, again in charge of Timão. In that edition, he beat Cruzeiro 1-0 in a game at Arena Pantanal, valid for the first round. His last debut was in 2016, when he finished 0-0 with Grêmio at the Neo Química Arena.