The 2019 Brazilian Championship starts as the 2018 edition finished: 19 teams trailing Palmeiras.
The Big Green crunched Fortaleza during 90 minutes, repeating the scorecard of the last two debuts for the Brazilian Championship at the Allianz Parque and achieving the 24th consecutive game without losing in the tournament.
Zé Rafael (2x), Marcos Rocha and Bruno Henrique scored for Palmeiras. Deyverson was the only man in green to receive a yellow card.
Green light
- Zé Rafael finally released his full potential, scoring two goals, giving one assist and creating many other opportunities.
- The physical condition of our players has improved considerably. The pressure was intense until the very end of the game, in spite of a rain-heavy pitch, with the last goal being scored on stoppage time.
Yellow light
- Ricardo Goulart left the field with an injury in his right knee. Later it was confirmed the player will have to undergo surgery and the recovery time is estimated to two months. The injury is not related to the knee surgery the player just recovered from.
Red light
- The referees are already showing what is to be expected in terms of impartiality.
- Ticket pricing was again too high and the Allianz Parque saw fifteen thousand seats empty.
Big numbers
The first broadcast of a Brazilian Championship game yielded excellent numbers for Turner: according to IBOPE, TNT achieved a 4.79 rating, meaning that 2,8 million people watched Palmeiras’ victory. This is a record audience for Brazilian cable-TV: not even Globo’s “SporTV” reached such numbers during last year´s broadcasting of the World Cup.
Next challenge
CSA, away, on Wednesday May 1st. CSA was defeated 4-0 by Ceará in the first round. However, this year, the team is yet to be defeated on their home turf: there have been seven victories and three draws at the Rei Pelé Stadium so far. Felipão will line-up a very alternative team, as he has opted for resting key players of the squad, who did not even travel to Alagoas. Will Palmeiras nevertheless bag the three points? Glue the radio to your ear and tune in to any of the transmissions this afternoon.
Scoppia che la vittoria è nostra!
– – – ooo – – –
by Augusto Anteghini Oazi
ANYTHING PALMEIRAS 