A HERO’S DEATH, ON THE FIELD

Panaji: Dempo SC had just defeated mighty Mohun Bagan 2-0 for their first Federation Cup triumph in 2004, yet there was hardly any cheer when the team picked up the trophy at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. Their mind, and thoughts, were elsewhere.
With a dozen-odd minutes left to be played, Brazilian striker Cristiano Sebastiao de Lima Junior left an advanced Bagan defence chasing him in vain, then eluded onrushing goalkeeper Subrata Paul to score his and the team’s second goal. With a two-goal advantage, it was, practically, match over.
But while many on the field celebrated what seemed like within touching distance of a deserving triumph on the evening of Dec 5, 20 years ago, Nigerian striker Ranty Martins and RC Prakash sensed something was amiss. Cristiano had fallen to the ground, after taking a hit from the goalkeeper’s outstretched hands.
Cristiano, 25, didn’t wake up again.
The rest of the match though was played, the prize distributions went ahead as scheduled as well, without anyone having any clue of the latest from the hospital.
“We were all shocked and didn’t know what was happening after he fell to the ground,” remembered Dempo captain Stanley Colaco of that fateful evening. “There was so much commotion all around. We were told not to worry, that everything will be alright. Cristiano was our star, so when he collapsed and then was taken into an ambulance, the initial thought was how to manage the last 12-odd minutes, without our best player. We were missing him on the field.”
When the match ended, Dempo players hastily collected the trophy and made a quick dash to the HOSMAT Hospital. What they saw broke them down. “He was lying there, motionless,” said Stanley.
The final post-mortem concluded that Cristiano died of cardiac arrest.
What happened at the Kanteerava Stadium on Dec 5, 2004, remains the darkest moment in Indian football history.
Not surprisingly, there was plenty of finger pointing.
Goalkeeper Paul was villain number one for his foul. He was suspended by the AIFF disciplinary committee, only for the appeals committee to overturn the decision. The role of referee M Balu – accused of being slow to call for an ambulance – was under the scanner, while the organisers didn’t escape blame either for not having a doctor on the field.
Even the participating teams only enlisted the services of a physiotherapist to remain on the technical bench.
“When Cristiano was being put into an ambulance, I ran towards him and prayed hard,” said coach Armando Colaco, who still carries a picture of the Brazilian in his wallet. “His last action in life was to score a goal, for Dempo, and win us our first Federation Cup trophy. In my coaching career, I’ve not come across someone who was such a team man, so humble, motivating. I never saw him get angry. He could even inspire the kit boy with his actions.”
Cristiano was just one of the talented Brazilian footballers who came to India in search of livelihood. He arrived in the 2003-04 season to play for East Bengal and soon became a crowd favourite, winning the Golden Boot and helping the Kolkata giants win the National Football League (NFL) crown.
Armando was building his own dream team at Dempo and somehow managed to convince the Brazilian to leave East Bengal. Those days, player movement involving stars usually was the other way.
In just a few months, the two shared a special bond. Cristiano was like the last missing piece of the Dempo jigsaw. His arrival sparked new life into the club, and made them ambitious. Suddenly, the Golden Eagles took to the field believing they were as good, if not better, than anyone else in the country.
The new mindset was there for all to see in the final against Mohun Bagan, the undisputed masters of the Federation Cup, having made it to their 15th final that year and in which they had lost only three times.
“A large credit for the enormous belief we had in ourselves that year should go to Cristiano,” former international Clifford Miranda wrote in ‘Golden Eagles, 50 years of Dempo SC’, the club's golden jubilee publication. “He was the one who inspired us all. A day before the final, he told us, ‘Everyone told me not to go to Dempo because they have never won anything. So this is the time to change things.’ And we indeed did.”
The cost of that victory needs no reminding.