Anything but three points would have been highly disappointing. And they were conquered, but not without drama.
Marcelo Oliveira repeated the line-up from the previous game against Cruzeiro, but with Victor Ramos back in the centre lock, placing Jackson on the bench. And just like against Cruzeiro, the blitz was magnificent: with 50 seconds on the clock, Gabriel Jesus open the scorecard after a long pass from Victor Ramos. Dudu made it 2-0, taking full advantage of the Joinville keeper’s deflection from Zé Roberto’s volley. The close to 30.000 spectators at the Allianz Parque were in heaven.
It took 1min30 to change that. Joinville’s first goal was nicely set up and Palmeiras were caught rather off guard. The second one was a mishap, a freak of events, but the results was nevertheless a cold shower as Palmeiras went into halftime to recompose.
Marcelo Oliveira swapped Barrios for Alecsandro, then Egídio for Rafael Marques, again dislocating Zé Roberto from the middle onto the left flank. Palmeiras slowly recovered the midfield, increasing the pressure on Joinville. Again, it was Gabriel Jesus who netted – his fourth goal this week – after (another) splendid pass from Dudu. Gabriel Jesus, cramping up, left the pitch and Thiago Santos made his debut, very successfully clogging up the midfield.
.
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Three well deserved point secured. Palmeiras are in the top four, aiming to beat Goiás away on the Wednesday to boost morale ahead of Sunday’s clash with Corinthians. It’s one game at a time, though. One victory at a time.
Scoppia che la vittoria è nostra!
ANYTHING PALMEIRAS 