Abel continues having to manage a squad missing its main players. The option for the derby against Corinthians was to repeat the line-up of the game against CRB, with the exception of Jailson replacing Weverton.
The beginning of the game tasted like heaven to palmeirenses. Raphael Veiga opened the scorecard with a beautiful shot already in the 3rd minute, avoiding the dreadful situation where Corinthians gets ahead and plays with the whole team in defense. However, the early advantage didn’t seem to be enough to motivate our players. Corinthians soon took control of the game and Jailson had to make two great saves for Palmeiras to go into halftime with the advantage intact.
Abel trusted that locker room talk would improve Palmeiras in the second half and didn’t make any changes. It didn’t work. In the 55th minute, Corinthians equalized with Gabriel. Palmeiras scored in the 80th minute, but Rony was offside by a hair at the beginning of the play and the VAR disallowed the goal, leaving both teams with one goal and one point at the end of the game.
Line-up
Jailson; Mayke (Marcos Rocha), Luan, Renan and Victor Luís; Felipe Melo, Scarpa and Raphael Veiga; Wesley (Breno Lopes), Rony (Deyverson) and Luiz Adriano (Willian).
Renan, Felipe Melo and Wesley received yellow cards.
.
Green Light
At least we didn’t lose. Palmeiras maintain an unbeaten sequence of six games against Corinthians in the Brasileirão (W3, D3), our longest unbeaten sequence against this opponent under the current format of the tournament (since 2003).
Yellow Light
A draw in a derby is not a terrible result, but the way it happened is concerning. Palmeiras abdicated to play after opening the scorecard and wasted the opportunity to sink our opponent in a crisis while improving the environment on our side.
Red Light
The attitude of our players was far from what is needed in a Derby. Abel seemed down in the trenched. We can’t shake the feeling something bad is about to go down; let’s hope it’s just our imagination.
Next Challenge
Brasileirão ramps up its rhythm amidst the Copa América. Palmeiras’ next game in the tournament is already on Wednesday 16th. The opponent is Juventude, recently promoted from the second division and without any win in their first three matches. A victory is necessary to remain close to the leaders.
Scoppia che la vittoria è nostra!
– – – ooo – – –
by Augusto Anteghini Oazi
*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 