Endrick's goals powering Palmeiras to title glory after Botafogo's historic bottle-job in Brazil

On Sunday, August 12, Botafogo beat Internacional 3-1 at home to complete a record-breaking first half of the Brasileiro Serie A season. They had dropped just 10 points in 19 games - and were 13 clear at the summit.

A first league title since 1995 appeared a formality. Some excited supporters even got tattoos of the trophy. Perhaps they should have known better. Botafogo and bad luck have long been bedfellows. Perhaps an implosion was inevitable.

Still, nobody could have foreseen what unfolded: a second half of the season as historic as the first - just for all the wrong reasons.

Botafogo face Internacional again on Wednesday night - but are now fifth in the table going into their final fixture of a truly astonishing campaign, their title dream already dashed in the most devastating of fashion.

Incredibly, the former runaway leaders have gone 10 games without a victory and will equal their worst-ever winless run in the Brasileiro if they fail to triumph at the Estadio Beira-Rio.

So, how did it come to this? Well, funnily enough, Cristiano Ronaldo played a part, with the striker recommending that Al-Nassr hire Botafogo boss Luis Castro as their new head coach during the summer.

Castro quit at the end of June to join his fellow Portuguese in Saudi Arabia and, despite some positive early results, Botafogo slowly began to unravel under his successor, former Wolves manager Bruno Lage, who was appointed on July 8 but sacked less than three months later after losing the dressing-room during three consecutive defeats in September.

The players convinced the club to put Under-23s coach Lucio Flavio in charge until the end of the season. However, the fan favourite failed to stop the rot, overseeing just two wins in eight outings in all competitions, and Tiago Nunes took over at the tail end of last month.

Incredibly, the situation was still salvageable at that stage, but Botafogo have since drawn all four of their league games under Nunes and last weekend's scoreless clash with Cruzeiro meant that the Rio-based side could no longer win the league, prompting a bitter fan backlash at the Nilton Santos. Some supporters had even thrown popcorn at the players before kick-off, as 'pipocada' in Brazil is associated with wasting strong starts.

The fans' frustration is understandable, in fairness. The way in which Botafogo have contrived to drop points has been truly astounding.

Luck certainly hasn't been on their side at times. The winless run began in October against Athletico-PR, when Botafogo went 1-0 up early on through top-scorer Tiquinho Soares only to see a floodlight failure result in the suspension of play.

When the game resumed, the VAR technology stopped working and that proved crucial, as Athletico equalised with a goal from Pablo that should have been disallowed for offside.

However, even accounting for bizarre occurrences or clashes with the coach, the players have to take a significant share of the blame for Botafogo's capitulation.

The likes of Lucas Perri, Adryelson, Victor Cuesta, Eduardo and Tiquinho Soares have suffered dramatic dips in form, while the team has repeatedly failed to hold onto big leads.

At the start of November, Botafogo hosted Palmeiras in a game that would have a colossal impact on the title race. The home side went 3-0 up inside 36 minutes and the game appeared to be over. However, Endrick dragged the defending champions back into the contest with a scintillating solo strike shortly after half-time before Adryelson was sent off with 14 minutes of normal time remaining.

Even then, though, Botafogo had the chance to finish Palmeiras off for good, but Tiquinho missed an 83rd-minute penalty.

Just over 60 seconds later, the ball dropped for Endrick on the edge of the Botafogo box. He sat down one defender with an outrageous dummy before finding the bottom corner with a low strike.

Jose Manuel Lopez levelled in the dying embers of normal time and then Murilo struck in the 99th minute of the craziest of encounters to leave Botafogo and their fans crestfallen.

Local hero Lucas Verthein was particularly upset, as he had inadvertently played a part in an incredibly driven display from the game-changing Endrick.

The teenager admitted after the game that he was fuelled by the "fire of hatred" in his heart after hearing Botafogo fans seemingly singing about their team being crowned champions.

"I wasn't going to let them shout that, given our fans had come here to support us," Endrick explained afterwards. "Botafogo has everything it takes to be champions, but that's what Palmeiras already are - and Palmeiras will never stop chasing.

"And I'm going to fight every minute, every second, to win this Brasileirao. As my friends, my father, my managers say, I'm a player who shows up at times when it's difficult. I like games like this."

In reality, though, the Botafogo fans had merely been paying tribute to Verthein winning a gold medal at the Pan-American Games in Chile.

"Not even in my worst nightmares would I have imagined that my victory could be responsible for having Endrick like that," the rower wrote on social media.

Just eight days later, in Botafogo's very next outing at the Nilton Santos, the club's long-suffering supporters suffered yet another traumatising 4-3 defeat. This time, Luis Suarez would be their tormentor.

Once again, Botafogo appeared to be cruising to victory, with former Chelsea forward Diego Costa helping them into a 3-1 lead. However, in less than 20 second-half minutes, Suarez struck three times to turn the game completely on its head and irreparably break Botafogo.

They are now utterly incapable of holding onto leads, no matter the circumstances. Against Coritiba just over a week ago, they went 1-0 up in the 97th-minute thanks to a penalty from Tiquinho - yet still only managed to draw the game after conceding an equaliser to Edu with the last kick of the game.

By that stage, Endrick had breathed fresh life into Palmeiras' title defence. The week after his heroics against Botafogo, he scored the only goal in a crucial 1-0 win over Athletico-PR. After a setback against Flamengo, Endrick was on target again in wins over Internacional and America-MG as Palmeiras propelled themselves back on top of the table.

A second successive Brasileiro is now almost certain, with the champions needing only to avoid defeat with an eight-goal swing in goal difference to retain their crown.

As for Endrick, he has already made history, with his 10 goals making him the first 17-year-old to reach double figures across a single Serie A season since Neymar.

He's also just collected his first two caps for Brazil, in last month's World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina. Selecao coach Fernando Diniz declared, "Endrick is a player who has the potential to become one of the game's great talents."

That much is clear. Having already put Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo on the path to superstardom, Madrid deserve credit for once again moving quickly - and stumping up a significant sum of money - to sign another brilliant Brazilian teenager.

Endrick has had his ups and downs during the season, going three months without a league goal at one point, but Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira has never had any doubts about the attacker's talent - or temperament.

"Endrick, like everyone else on the team, started the year very well before having a very bad period," he said. "Some of you even wanted me to put him on the B team because he is so young. But we are talking about a 17-year-old boy, who is always going to have fluctuations in form.

"Madrid's scouts are very competent and Endrick has that mix of the irreverence of youth and the experience of a veteran that gives certain players a mystique."

Botafogo's aura is less alluring, sadly. The club has long been synonymous with surreal failures. There is even a saying in Brazil that 'some things only happen to Botafogo'. But nobody has ever seen anything like this before.

Diego Costa said after the game at the Nilton Santos on Sunday, "I hope this is a good lesson for everyone here: football makes you pay for mistakes." It really can be such a cruel game.