Palmeiras face Mirassol, but Abel yet to beat Guanaes | OneFootball

Palmeiras takes the field this Saturday looking to maintain its perfect record in the Campeonato Paulista. The Verdão will face Mirassol, the sensation of last season, when they finished in fourth place in the Brasileirão. Despite having a good record against the team from the interior of São Paulo, coach Abel Ferreira has never beaten Rafael Guanaes, the coach of this Saturday’s opponent.

Even though Mirassol is a centenary club, they only reached the top tier of São Paulo football in 2008 and thus were able to face Palmeiras. Since then, Verdão has faced the team from the interior 17 times, coming out on top on nine occasions, drawing four matches, and losing four encounters. With these numbers, Verdão boasts a 57% success rate.

However, of the four defeats they suffered, two were under the command of Abel Ferreira. After the 1-0 loss in 2012 and the 2013 rout, when Mirassol beat Palmeiras 6-2, Verdão only stumbled against the interior team again this decade, in 2021, when they lost 2-1.

Abel Ferreira vs. Rafael Guanaes

And Verdão, even after winning the last Paulistão clashes from 2023 to 2025, now faces a new nemesis at Mirassol: coach Rafael Guanaes. Since taking charge of the team, he has faced Palmeiras twice, both times in the last Brasileirão, and managed to achieve good results.

In July, he went to Allianz Parque and snatched a 1-1 draw against Palmeiras. Although Facundo Torres opened the scoring nine minutes into the second half, the Paraguayan Chico da Costa, now at Cruzeiro, equalized.

Then, in November, Mirassol beat Palmeiras, who were still fighting for the Brazilian title. At Campos Maia, Gabriel opened the scoring two minutes into the first half, Vitor Roque equalized at the 30-minute mark, but João Victor sealed the match at 47.

Upcoming Palmeiras matches

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