Flaco López scores the winning goal for the team led by Abel Ferreira in a balanced match in Itaquera
Flaco López was the name of Palmeiras in this Sunday’s derby, at Neo Química Arena, for the seventh round of the first phase of the Campeonato Paulista. The Argentine scored the goal that defined Alviverde’s 1-0 victory over Corinthians and kept the team in the fight for the overall leadership of the state tournament.
At Palmeiras, the individual highlights were Flaco López and Carlos Miguel. The Argentine is going through a great phase and has an increasingly improved goalscoring flair. The goalkeeper made important saves. The alviverde performance, as a whole, was reasonable. Neither good nor bad. But this is not necessarily a positive sign. The team has the potential to do much more and differently. It should be noted that, even with the arrival of Jhon Arias in the coming days, the Palmeiras squad has been depreciated in recent times and needs reinforcements for key positions, such as defense, midfield, winger and attack.
It is to be expected that the technical committee of the Brazilian team will have Breno Bidon on their radar. The young Corinthian is the team’s engine, present in attack and defense, with a disposition that the national team commonly lacks in midfield. With each big match, Dorival Júnior shows that he is a coach who knows how to deal with duels of this size, whether classics or finals.
With the result, Palmeiras reaches 15 points and remains in second place, one point behind Novorizontino. Corinthians has 11 points and is in fifth place, behind Portuguesa and Red Bull Bragantino.
In the final round of the first phase of Paulistão, Corinthians visits São Bernardo, in ABC, while Palmeiras hosts Guarani, in Barueri. The games will be concurrent and are scheduled for next Sunday, at 8:30 pm.
Before that, however, both teams have commitments for the Brasileirão. On Thursday, at 8pm, Corinthians will challenge Red Bull Bragantino, at Neo Química Arena. Later, at 9:30 pm, it is Palmeiras’ turn to take the field, in Porto Alegre, to face off against Internacional.
Pushed by the fans, Corinthians started with more game volume and offensive presence. Palmeiras, in turn, tried to set up speed moves through the corridors. The rivals were interested in attacking and created an electric atmosphere, with good situations created from both sides.
Abel focused on the speed of the attack to try to surprise his rival. Roque was constantly the target of passes from the right side to run against the black and white defenders. For Corinthians, Yuri Alberto and Breno Bidon had the most dangerous chances.
In the 33rd minute, during a corner kick, Gustavo Henrique touched the ball, Carlos Miguel tried to make the save and the referee awarded a penalty for Corinthians, justifying that the Alviverde goalkeeper had hit the Alvinegro defender. Despite the arguments and images showing a different situation, the VAR did not call Claus, who confirmed the penalty. Memphis Depay charged and shot wide.
Even with the intensity, speed and volume of Corinthians and Palmeiras, the score in Itaquera remained unchanged throughout the first half.
Palmeiras returned for the second half with a more vigorous stance than their arch-rivals and occupied the offensive field. It took a while for Corinthians to react, but when they did they were in danger with firm shots from Memphis and Bidu, saved by Carlos Miguel.
After 20 minutes, the reins of the match passed into Corinthians hands. The hosts cornered the Palmeirenses in a blitz. Carlos Miguel had to make the difference when Gabriel Paulista headed a corner.
In the 32nd minute, Palmeiras had a big one. Corinthians’ luck is that the move fell at the feet of an indecisive young man. Luighi was face to face with the goalkeeper, but took a while to shoot and was disarmed by Matheuzinho as he finished. The move generated unfounded complaints from the alviverde technical committee. Abel received another yellow card and was sent off by Claus. It was the Portuguese’s 12th expulsion in more than five years at the club. The last one was nine months ago.
Palmeiras opened the scoring in the 39th minute. Mauricio kicked, Hugo Souza palmed it and delivered the rebound to Flaco López’s feet. The Argentine did not forgive and put the Alviverde team at an advantage. After the goal, the attacker hit the corner flag with the Corinthians shield, which generated a reaction from players and started confusion. At the end of regulation time, the Argentine was replaced by Lucas Evangelista, recovering from injury after a long period.
