Palmeiras 1-0 Red Bull Bragantino – no surprises

Having won the first leg 3-1, Palmeiras played the remaining 90 minutes of the round-of-16 only managing the advantage. When Wesley was injured in the first half, Veron came on and soon scored the sole goal of the match in the 30th minute.

In the 65th minute, Red Bull Bragantino’s Luan Candido was sent to the showers just six minutes after having entered the pitch. With an aggregated score of 4-1 and the opponent one man short, Abel Ferreira seized the remaining minutes to test a different formation; in the post-match interview he highlighted he would use these opportunities to compensate the lack of time for practice.

Line-up
Weverton; Gabriel Menino, Luan, Gustavo Gómez and Viña (Scarpa); Felipe Melo (Danilo), Zé Rafael and Raphael Veiga (Ramires); Wesley (Veron), Rony and Luiz Adriano (Willian).

Green Light
Palmeiras showed maturity and control, blocking Bragantino’s initial charge, not putting the quarterfinals at risk even once. Viña, Felipe Melo and Veron had an excellent night.

Yellow Light
Maybe supporters were expecting a bit more intensity in the first match with the new coach, but the calendar is packed and low-key games are welcome to not wear players out.

Red Light
Fingers crossed Wesley’s knee injury is nothing serious.

Next Challenge
We’re entering the second half of the Brasileirão and Palmeiras this Sunday play Vasco da Gama, but this is the first time the teams meet this season: the first clash, the scheduled opening game in the competition, was postponed due to the Paulistão final and is yet to be played.

On Sunday, for the first time in history, Portuguese coaches will be on both sides of a Brazilian League game. Abel Ferreira will re-encounter Ricardo Sá Pinto, his former coach, as Palmeiras try to shorten the gap to the top positions.

Scoppia che la vittoria è nostra!

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by Augusto Anteghini Oazi & Kristian Bengtson

*Here at Anything Palmeiras, we love football. We love Palmeiras. We are always keen to see Palmeiras play, and keen to write about it for you. But we’re against the return of football in a country that still hasn’t controlled the coronavirus pandemic. We express our deepest sympathy to the families whose loved ones have been taken by the disease.