Rony celebrates the definition with his teammates, after the penalties. Photo REUTERS
After a game that had anything but goals and was decided on penalties, palms is already in the semifinal of Libertadores Cup and one step, in the home and away matches, to play the third consecutive final. The San Paolo team, twice champion of the continent’s most important competition, lived with an epic nuance: in the first leg they lost by two goals and managed to equal it; in the round he suffered two expulsions but reached the definition from the twelve steps and won the crossing.
The definition was tense. Hulk he took care of the first of the series. He tried a particular race and crossed it to the left of the goalkeeper. Rafael Veiga equalized with a left-footed shot to the right of Everson. Nacho Fernandezdid not fail: he kicked in the middle and with a free bow because the goalkeeper had chosen a side. Gustavo Gomez he ran straight for the ball and fixed it with a flick of his ankle on the right post.
With the series tied for two, Jair he did not get scared and nailed it near the right corner of Weverton which, although he was careful, he could not even touch it. Ze Raffaele, with class, even inside. The Palmeiras goalkeeper was close to taking Sashabut did not reach. Piquerez He settled on his left foot and it looked like it would make it soft, instead he pulled out an unstoppable punch.
The last two penalties of the series continued the trend. Junior Alonso made a cross shot to his right and the goalkeeper jumped to the other side. Rony with all the pressure to put him in and keep kicking or miss and be out, put him halfway up and celebrate. In heads-up everything fell apart for Mineiro: Rubens was the first and the only one to miss Weverton guessed the point and at the next shot Murilo Cerqueira unleashed madness and now Palmeiras is waiting for Paranaense or Estudiantes, which define this. Thursday in La Plata after the 0-0 first leg.
The Verdao managed to withstand the pressure of Gallic despite having played with one less than the 29 of the first half, when the midfielder Daniele saw red for a very stark contrast against Matias Zaracho. The last eight minutes were worse: he played with nine later Gustavo Scarpa see red for a trampling Alan.
The Brazilian champion, meanwhile, lost to the Chilean Edoardo Varga when six have been played since full time, having received their second yellow card in the match.
The expulsion of Danilo, finalized after a review by Colombian referee Wilmar Roldán at VAR, was a double blow for DT Abel Ferreira: his team remained in ten against a rival with a fierce squad and lost a key man in the recovery. The Portuguese, however, made up for that absence by rearranging the pieces on the pitch without moving the bench, with Raphael Veiga accompanying Zé Rafael on the waiting line.
Even after the 21-year-old young midfielder left, they insisted Gallic on his own field, highlighting at the same time a trend of the first half: a lot of parity between the two and a few challenging shots for Weverton and Everson. Albinegro DT, Alexi Stival -Cuca-, had difficulty in asserting numerical superiority against a ‘Verdao who withdrew and went on the break.
The Brazilian coach, creator of the only Libertadores won by the Galo, in 2013, at the hands of Ronaldinho Gaúcho, moved the bench on 8 ‘of the second half, with the entry of Ignacio Fernández in place of the winger Ademir.
Nacho was in charge of organizing the midfield of those from Belo Horizonte, who suffered from ailment in Weverton. Only until game time did they silence Allianz Parque, on a header by Jair that touched the left post and then on a shot by Zaracho blocked by the goalkeeper.
Eduardo Sasha, Rubens and Vargas entered to try to break through the solid defense of Palmeiras on a cold and rainy night in São Paulo. But not even Scarpa’s direct red card made their work easier. Ferreira, who only made two changes (Luan and Mayke for Dudu and Marcos Rocha, with three to go), managed to take the game to penalties, a mission close to failure in recovery time due to a Hulk header who crashed into the stick.
The Portuguese also became the torment of cuckoo in the Libertadores: in the 2020 edition, when his rival was at the helm of Santos, he beat them in the final and last year, when the Brazilian was also at the helm of Mineiro, he eliminated them in the semifinals. The two-time champion has kept his unbeaten cupbearer (eight wins, two draws) and continues to hunt down Estudiantes and Independiente.
Source: Clarin
