Palmeiras is in the final of the Campeonato Paulista 2026. Playing at the Arena Crefisa Barueri, the team beat São Paulo 2-1, with goals from Maurício and Flaco López, and sealed the tournament’s final for the seventh consecutive year – sixth under the command of Abel Ferreira.
The game was marked by refereeing controversies – – as happened in the last three editions of the duel.
The finals will take place on March 4th and 8th, 2026. The opponent will be Novorizontino, the best campaign of Paulistão 2026, who beat Corinthians yesterday and qualified.
The game
Playing as if they were at Allianz Parque, Palmeiras started pressing, in an attempt to speed up the game.
The result was almost immediate: in a play built with the participation of the entire offensive sector, Vitor Roque played inside the area, and Maurício had a deflection to take the lead. The number 18 only had the job of hitting the goal, opening the scoring at Arena Crefisa Barueri.
Boxed in, Tricolor had difficulties getting the ball out with their midfielders. Palmeiras’ posture hindered this too, with ball steals already in the attacking field.
Enzo Díaz arrived well on the left side, looking for Luciano, but the giant Carlos Miguel appeared well to clear the play.
Palmeiras had a chance to expand before the clock turned, and Piquerez missed an unbelievable chance. The full-back received it from Vitor Roque completely free on the left side, and hit a cross. The ball went very close to the goal, but went over the baseline, irritating Abel Ferreira.
Once again, as in the last duels between the teams, there was a huge refereeing controversy. In a crossed ball, São Paulo players complained about a possible hand touch by defender Gustavo Gómez.
Referee Daiane Caroline Muniz dos Santos said she saw the move on the field, but both the São Paulo players on the field and Hernán Crespo complained a lot about the call.
In the next move, Palmeiras increased, in a foul with another refereeing issue – Daiane gave a yellow card to Sabino, when the infraction was committed by Danielzinho. The card was corrected soon after.
In the dead ball, Andreas took a low shot looking for Piquerez. The full-back crossed and Flaco López appeared alone, between two markers, scoring the goal alone.
São Paulo improved with the entry of Danielzinho and reduced the score in yet another controversial move. At 23, Bobadilla fell in the area when competing for the ball with Marlon Freitas and Daiane signaled a penalty. On the charge, Calleri hit the middle, Carlos Miguel fell to the right, and Tricolor returned to the game.
Even though they were uninspired, São Paulo had more freedom and volume of play, but this did not translate into good scoring opportunities, and Tricolor fell by the wayside.
