Abel: Balanced clash with River, Palmeiras deserve next round | OneFootball

Palmeiras has advanced to the semifinals of the Libertadores for the 12th time in its history, the fifth time under the leadership of Abel Ferreira. To secure their spot in the next stage, Verdão defeated River Plate 3-1 at Allianz Parque. The coach saw a balanced match against the Argentinians and pointed out that his team deserved to qualify after the 180 minutes of the tie.

“My opinion is based on an analysis of a very emotional game. The first time the opponent reached our goal, they scored from a set piece, which I think took away a bit of our composure. Not because we didn’t have a well-defined way to attack, but because we weren’t bold and aggressive enough offensively. The halftime break came at a good time, and we had a good reaction,” Abel analyzed.

River Plate took the lead in the seventh minute of the first half. On their first attack, Salas opened the scoring with a header after a free kick near the area. Palmeiras felt the impact of the goal and needed some time to reorganize on the field.

Calm and focus: Abel reveals locker room talk

Palmeiras changed the course of the match in the second half and came from behind to win 3-1 over their rivals, with goals from Vitor Roque and Flaco López (twice). Abel revealed what was said in the locker room and pointed out the changes responsible for Palmeiras’ comeback.

“I told the players to have calm and focus in a game like this, to spend our energy on what we can control, which were our well-defined tasks, and not to get involved in arguments with the referee, the opponent, or the fans. We also made two tactical adjustments on both sides,” Abel revealed.

“In the first half, we only had two players on each side. In the second, three. After that, we were very different. We were more aggressive with and without the ball. It was a balanced game, despite the score. If I had to split it into four parts: in the first, in Argentina, we were better; in the second, our opponent was better. The first half here was balanced, despite River’s goal. We also could have scored one before. In the second half, we were more dominant, able to impose our game. After the sending off, the match was practically decided,” the coach analyzed.

“The second half was much better than the first, because of the boldness and offensive aggressiveness we had, we played a consistent and balanced game, despite the 3-1 score. In the end, there is no doubt that we were the better team over both games. In my opinion, Palmeiras deserves to be in the next stage,” he concluded.

Palmeiras back in the semifinals

With this result, Verdão returns to the Libertadores semifinals after being eliminated in the round of 16 in 2024. This will be the fifth time under Abel Ferreira’s command. With the Portuguese coach, Verdão reached the semifinals in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

What now?

Now, they await the winner of LDU vs São Paulo, who face each other this Thursday at Morumbis. The Ecuadorian team won the first leg 2-0. The semifinals are scheduled to take place between October 22 and 29.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.