Madness – the former Chelsea and Atletico Madrid player was sacked after an 8–0 victory

There was that moment when Claudio Ranieri was sacked by Leicester City just a season after sensationally winning the Premier League. At the time, the Foxes’ board decision seemed quite disgraceful, but at least it came around nine months after the title triumph. What has now happened in Brazil, however, is dishonorable, immoral, shameful, incomprehensible, and extremely difficult to explain…

Filipe Luis has been dismissed as head coach of Flamengo. Yes, the man who exactly three months ago won the Copa Libertadores (the title awarded to South America’s champion) — and on top of that also secured the Brazilian league title — has been fired.

In doing so, he became only the second coach in the club’s history to deliver both the South American and Brazilian championships in the same calendar year. He also led Flamengo to the final of the Intercontinental Cup, where they lost to Paris Saint-Germain only after a penalty shootout.

And why was he sacked? Because he lost matches for the largely symbolic trophies of the Supercopa do Brasil and the Recopa Sudamericana (South America’s equivalent of the European Super Cup), and because of a poor start in the Brazilian league — where only three rounds have been played so far.

So, after just five bad matches at the beginning of a season that will run until December — with who knows how much could change by then — Filipe Luis was shown the door. Is it really possible that defeats in relatively minor super cup competitions are unforgivable for a man who touched the stars just three months ago?

Let’s repeat it, because for any reasonable person this is unfathomable: 88 days ago he won the Copa Libertadores, and 70 days ago he lifted the Brazilian championship trophy. This case is shameful, and Flamengo truly does not deserve to win anything in the near future after such a disgraceful act.

What makes it even worse is that Luis was informed of his dismissal after a match he had won the previous night by 8–0 — albeit against lower-division side Madureira in the semi-final of the Campeonato Carioca. Flamengo will face Fluminense in that regional final.