Spectacular! Tremendous! Breathtaking! Palmeiras absolutely thrashed Corinthians, once again igniting dreams of a perfect season, in which Palmeiras bag each and every tournament available.
Yesterday, Abel Ferreira opted for a different formation, with Willian and Luiz Adriano as the attacking duo. Big pay-off! After counting on Weverton and the woodwork to escape from Corinthians’ opener, Palmeiras took full control of the game. In the 34th minute, Veiga opened the gates after being assisted by Willian. 10 minutes later, Willian pulled out another assist, this time for Luiz Adriano to increase the lead. As the saying goes “Dois vira, quatro acaba”. Already in the 48th minute, Veiga scored his second. There was time for more. Luiz Adriano went face to face with Corinthians keeper Cássio after a terrible pass from Gabriel, with the ball dying in the back of the net. Palmeiras naturally slowed down until the final whistle as millions of palmeirenses chanted from their sofas “Ooooooooolé… ooooooooolé… oooooooolé!”
Line-up
Weverton; Mayke, Luan (Émerson Santos), Kuscevic, Viña (Scarpa); Danilo, Gabriel Menino, Zé Rafael and Raphael Veiga (Pedro Acácio); Willian (Breno Lopes) and Luiz Adriano (Rony).
Viña and Danilo received yellow cards.
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Green Light
Corinthians entered the Allianz Parque sustaining a seven-game undefeated run, with five victories and two draws, having conceded but one goal during that period. Willian and Luiz Adriano destroyed Corinthians’ defensive strategy. The former executed impeccable movements and at times acted like an advanced playmaker, repeatedly putting his colleagues one-on-one against Cássio. The latter, with a brace of his own, was important also to create the spaces allowing for Veiga’s brace.
Yellow Light
Early on in the match, Palmeiras conceded some opportunities to Corinthians, most of them originating from balls crossing the area. This was the same path chosen by River Plate in the second leg of the Libertadores semifinal, which also caused trouble. Abel needs to fix this for the final stretch.
Red Light
In 1933, Palestra Italia beat Corinthians 8-0; why were our players yesterday celebrating like they had pulled off something huge?
Next Challenge
The sequence of though matches continue. Palmeiras travel to Rio de Janeiro for the clash against Flamengo, on Thursday 21st. This upcoming round is key to determine the teams that will remain in the fight for the title, as all of the top-6 play among themselves. Besides Palmeiras (5th) vs. Flamengo (4th), the round gives us Grêmio (6th) vs. Atlético Mineiro (3rd) and São Paulo (1st) vs. Inter (2nd). What exiting times to be alive!
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.
ANYTHING PALMEIRAS 