Having the second leg of the Libertadores semifinals on Tuesday, Abel sent a mixed teams with a few of the regulars starters, as Weverton, Gómez and Dudu, and some players that aren’t receiving many minutes on field, as Gabriel Menino and Gustavo Scarpa.
Both teams started the match exercising high pressure when the opponent had the ball, stressing the defenders to commit errors; unfortunately, the error that resulted in the opener was on our side. Luan slipped, Patrick de Paula went too soft into the challange and Renato Augusto found Róger Guedes, who gave Weverton no chance, firing a left-footed shot.
Palmeiras didn’t show any reaction and Corinthians scored their second goal, again with Róger Guedes, but it was correctly called offside. Then, on injury time of the first half, the ball offered itself to Gabriel Menino after a corner, who fired a shot, deflecting off Róger Guedes and dying in the back of the net to level the scorecard.
The goal in the end of the first half didn’t propel Palmeiras to a better second half. Corinthians was again better, with Weverton’s target being threatened more often than Cassio’s. Abel made some substitutions with the Libertadores game on mind, and Palmeiras improved slightly, even hitting Cássio’s woodwork with Gabriel Veron. But, the “former player curse” attacked again. In the 84th minute, Róger Guedes scored his brace, giving little time to Palmeiras react and imposing the seventh defeat of the green side in the tournament.
Line-up
Weverton; Gabriel Menino, Luan, Gustavo Gómez and Renan (Jorge); Patrick de Paula (Zé Rafael), Danilo and Scarpa; Dudu (Willian), Wesley (Gabriel Veron) and Luiz Adriano (Deyverson).
Patrick de Paula received a yellow card.
Green Light
Nothing good to be pointed out after a defeat in a derby against Corinthians. At least Atlético Mineiro only drew against São Paulo, and Flamengo drew against América Mineiro. The championship’s still quite open.
Yellow Light
Gabriel Menino, Patrick de Paula, Renan… The youths are expected to oscillate, but their performance against Corinthians was incredibly bad. In a game where no mistakes are permitted, they gave to many chances to Corinthians build their victory.
Red Light
The distance to the leaders has increased, Atlético Mineiro now standing at 45 points, eight ahead. Corinthians was on 220V, while Palmeiras mostly played on 110V. Prompted by their new players, Corinthians ended Palmeiras’ sequence of six consecutive games without defeat against them in the Brasileirão.
Next Challenge
Let’s forget everything for a moment. The bad atmosphere, the players who are not delivering, the problems in the attack. Everything. Palmeiras have the most important game of the season on Tuesday, 28th. A draw with goals is enough for Abel and his men secure a second consecutive final of the continental tournament. From now until after the game, the “corneta” is off and we are going to go to this final all together.
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.
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