Alvinegro decides the title against the winner of the classic between Fluminense and Vasco, who face each other this Sunday at Maracanã, after Vasco’s 2-1 victory in the first leg, in São Januário
After the dominance and , the return round ended with a 5-4 victory for on penalties, forced by a 2-1 victory for in regulation time, this Sunday (14). Hugo Souza saved two penalties, while former Corinthians Cássio, now Cruzeiro’s goalkeeper, saved one.
During the 90 minutes, the team from Minas Gerais opened the scoring in a first half in which they dominated the home team and expanded to five in the second, both times with Arroyo. Matheus Bidu reduced the score for the São Paulo team, who scored a great second and wasted many opportunities to decide the match, as they were playing for time.
Corinthians decides the title against , who face each other this Sunday at Maracanã, after Vasco’s 2-1 victory in the first leg, in São Januário. The finals games are scheduled for the 17th, Wednesday, and the 21st, Sunday. The Rio team decides at home.
The game
Dominated at Mineirão, the celestial team held the upper hand in Itaquera. Even under pressure from the home team’s high scoring attempt, they found the necessary spaces to make the transition. Hugo Souza was essential in preventing Cruzeiro from equalizing the aggregate score.
Cruzeiro’s superiority became total closer to the final minutes. It was very common to see Corinthians defenders screening very dangerous low balls from inside the area. After some attempts on the ground, Cruzeiro resolved the ball in the area, with a header scored by Arroyo, who came off the bench to replace the injured Sinisterra, after a cross from William.
Corinthians returned for the second half with Raniele and Rodrigo Garro in the places previously occupied by Martínez and Carrillo, respectively. Still five minutes in, Arroyo scored Cruzeiro’s second goal, on a counterattack. The linesman even flagged offside, but the move was analyzed by VAR and validated by the referee.
Accelerated by necessity, Corinthians gave in to crosses and, after mistakes, Matheus Bidu used his head to take advantage of Garro’s cross, from a free kick, to reduce and set the Neo Química Arena on fire.
Neither team scored again and the decision went to penalties. In penalties, Matheus Pereira converted the first celestial penalty and Yuri Alberto stopped Cássio. Then, Wanderson and Memphis scored, before William also saved, just as Garro did for Corinthians. Hugo Souza even hit the corner, but was unable to save Lucas Silva’s penalty.
The same happened with Vitinho in his confrontation with Cássio. Hugo had to catch Gabigol’s kick to keep the Corinthians alive, and that’s what he did. Shortly afterwards, Gustavo Henrique scored. Hugo saved the last shot, from Walace, and Breno Bido converted to put the São Paulo team in the final.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
