After Remo-Palmeiras upset, Abel's assistant cites Portugal's rain | OneFootball

Palmeiras, the team managed by Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira, could do no better than a 1-1 draw away to Remo, in a match that kicked off two hours later than originally scheduled due to heavy rain in Belém.

At the end of the Brasileirão round 15 clash, assistant coach João Martins made a point of appearing at the press conference to criticize the scheduled kickoff time, citing as an example the peculiar case of fog at Estádio da Choupana, in Madeira.

"We’re used to routines. Everything is very precise, with schedules... when this kind of thing happens, we have to adapt without excuses, but these are different, exceptional situations. They warned us yesterday. They told us that whoever schedules a match like this for 4:00 p.m. is asking for this to happen. In Portugal, just as an example, there is a stadium on the island of Madeira and at 6:00 p.m. that fog always rolls in, mist".

The coach revealed what was said before the match: "When we got here they told us the same thing: 'a game here at 4:00 p.m.? It’s definitely going to rain'. We checked the weather forecast, and it rains every day here," he began by explaining. "Whoever made this schedule was asking for this to happen. But no excuses. Of course we don’t like it, we are very methodical, but Remo’s goal came from two duels we lost, we closed down badly on the player making the inside run, our center-back didn’t recover... The reason was not the delay to the game, but the pitch was heavy, hard, and running required a lot of strength."

It should be remembered that Palmeiras - the team where Pedro Lima, a player wanted by Sporting, came through the youth ranks - have 34 points and are top of the Brazilian league, followed by Flamengo, Leonardo Jardim’s team, in second place with 30 points. It is worth noting that Abel Ferreira’s side have played one more match.

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