The disappointing result against Corinthians led Abel to make some changes to the starting eleven, the most important being Deyverson back in it in this his second spell at Palmeiras. He’d already played some minutes in the second half against Corinthians and didn’t do much, but taking Luiz Adriano’s bad spell into consideration, Abel opted for some fresh blood.
The changes didn’t take much effect in the first half: Palmeiras played better than Juventude but didn’t create clear opportunities to open the scorecard.
In the second half, Palmeiras made good use of two corners to mark the scorecard. In the 53rd minute, pressured by Renan, William Matheus scored an own goal; in the 63rd, on his second attempt, Scarpa’s cross found Deyverson alone inside the box to increase Palmeiras’ lead with a beautiful header.
Juventude had some opportunities to put emotion into the game, but Jailson stopped their best two efforts and a third was correctly annulled, Melo being dislocated through a subtle push from behind. With the clock ticking and still two goals behind, Juventude offered up more spaces and Breno Lopes scored a beautiful goal in the 87th minute – against Scarpa with the assist – to put final numbers to the game.
Line-up
Jailson; Marcos Rocha, Luan (Zé Rafael), Renan and Victor Luís; Felipe Melo, Gabriel Menino (Mayke) and Raphael Veiga; Willian (Breno Lopes), Scarpa and Deyverson.
Marcos Rocha, Gabriel Menino and Breno Lopes received yellow cards.
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Green Light
Scarpa played very well and participated in the three goals: he assisted Deyverson and Breno Lopes, and he took the corner that resulted in the own goal. It’s important to have someone other than Veiga to be the playmaker.
Yellow Light
The victory is important, but the three points won’t hide the fact that Palmeiras didn’t have an excellent night. There were errors in defense that could have made things complicated hadn’t Jailson performed some great saves, and the offensive was very stale in the first half, completely lacking verticality.
Red Light
Luan had to leave the field in the first half due to an injury and Felipe Melo played in defense for the rest of the match. The squad is already short and another injury will make the campaign during the Copa América even harder.
Next Challenge
The fast pace of the Brasileirão continues. On Sunday the 20th at 11 am, Palmeiras receive América Mineiro at the Allianz Parque. Against another recently promoted opponent, Palmeiras better bag the three points, keep close distance to the leaders and repel any discouragement that by chance installed itself among the men.
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 