The city of São Paulo simmered with anticipation, its streets pulsing with the kind of energy that only comes before a derby of this magnitude. By Friday morning, the Palmeiras training center was surrounded—a fortress under siege. Journalists crowded the gates like vultures, their cameras clicking incessantly. Fans pressed against the barriers, their faces alight with hope and fear in equal measure, craning for glimpses of their heroes. Everyone knew who was coming. Everyone knew what this meant.
Palmeiras vs Santos. Semifinal. Neymar on one side. Thiago on the other.
For Thiago, the noise was distant—like thunder outside a closed window. The shouts of reporters, the whir of helicopter blades, the constant murmur of speculation—it all faded into white noise. Inside, he felt still. Calm. The eye of the storm.
