Carlos Miguel after Palmeiras progress: “It needn’t be so agonising” | OneFootball

Palmeiras has qualified for the Copa Libertadores semifinal and will face Fluminense in the next stage of the competition. The first match will be at the Maracanã, while the return leg will be at Nubank Parque. Abel Ferreira’s team faced LDU this Wednesday, the 16th, and lost 3-2 in Quito. On penalties, Palmeiras won 4-3.

The goals in regular time were scored by Marlon Freitas and Vitor Roque for the Brazilian side. Segovia and Estrada (2x) scored for LDU. Palmeiras had won 1-0 at Nubank Parque last week. In the penalty shootout, Lucas Rodríguez and Segovia missed LDU’s spot kicks, both saved by Carlos Miguel.

Lucas Evangelista missed Palmeiras’ penalty. After the match, Carlos Miguel, the hero of the game, spoke about the qualification and the scares suffered by the green-and-white side in the final minutes of the match at altitude. The goalkeeper kept quiet about the strategy he used to save penalties.

“We work insanely hard so that, in moments like this, we can deliver. As for the strategy, I don’t like to share it because I still have a very long career ahead of me, and now is not the time to reveal all my logic, because everyone has their own way of keeping themselves under control and maintaining strong mental focus. We managed to get this hard-fought and emotional qualification through, though it didn’t need to be quite so painful,” said Carlos Miguel.

Carlos Miguel commented on the scare at the end of the game

“Five minutes can change a match, and that’s what happened today. Everyone knows the difference of playing here—the speed of the ball, its movement—but this is our job, this is what we live for. We tried until the end of the game, we ended up conceding two goals, but we knew how to stay mentally strong. It went from zero to 100, then to 200, 300, but we stayed focused to come away with qualification in the end, which is what we are here to do.”

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