Palmeiras made good use of the red-black Carrascal’s expulsion, 20 minutes into the first half, and left the Maracanã with a 3-0 victory in the reunion with Flamengo, six months after losing the Libertadores title to their rival from Rio. Alan, Flaco López and Paulinho, the latter responsible for a brief confusion after celebrating with a gesture asking for silence, scored the goals in the important result of the 17th round of the Brasileirão.
In addition to isolating the Palmeiras team in the lead, the triumph alleviates the pressure placed on coach Abel Ferreira after the defeat at home to Cerro Porteño, suffered on Wednesday. With 38 points, the São Paulo club opened a seven-point gap in relation to the Rio team, with 31, which has one game less because it has not yet played the fourth round, in which it would face Mirassol.
Less pressured, Abel’s team tries to qualify for the round of 16 of the Libertadores at 7pm on Thursday, when they face Junior Barranquilla, before playing their last game before the World Cup, against Chapecoense, on May 31st. Flamengo, already qualified for the next phase of the continental tournament, will challenge Cusco, on Tuesday, and then Coritiba, on the 30th.
The rivalry that has built between the two teams over the last few years was materialized by a mosaic that evoked the Libertadores title won by Flamengo over Palmeiras last year. “First tetra” said the message in bold letters in the Maracanã stands. A flag was also displayed with an illustration of the goal scored by Danilo in the 1-0 victory over Palmeiras in the continental final.
The weather is hot outside and also on the field. The opening minutes were played by the Flamengo fans the way the fans wanted. This harmony was represented on the field by Samuel Lino, responsible for dictating the pace of the game, very dynamic playing inside and assisted by Paquetá, whom he left in front of the goal in a move that ended in a save by Carlos Miguel. Before, the Alviverde goalkeeper had already saved a strong shot from outside the area, fired by Lino himself.
The Flamengo performance was intense, until Carrascal overstepped and raised his foot exaggeratedly to compete for the ball with Murilo, an excess that cost him a red card. With more possession from the moment they started to have a numerical advantage of players on the field, Palmeiras gradually found spaces and opened the scoring with a goal from Flaco López, in the 39th minute, after a beautiful pass from Marlon Freitas and assistance from Allan, in a subtle touch backwards with the outside of his foot.
In the second half, Flamengo set out to be offensive even with one down, an intention evidenced by Leonardo Jardim’s choice to remove midfielder Evertton Araújo to place Bruno Henrique and fill the offensive space left by Carrascal’s expulsion. Thus, the home team launched an attack and even put Carlos Miguel to work.
They knew, however, the risk they were taking against a team that has quick transition as one of its main characteristics. In a counterattack built on the exchange of passes, Allan was activated in the middle and advanced with space on the inside, until he released the ball to Arias, received it back – after a missed shot from the Ecuadorian – and finished with his shoulder to beat Rossi.
Without taking any major risks during most of the final stage, Palmeiras still scored the third goal, in stoppage time, when Paulinho received it from Jefté in the area and shot from the left to close the score. The celebration of the striker, a former Vasco athlete, making a gesture asking for silence, angered the Flamengo players, which led to brief confusion before the final whistle.
