Palmeiras lose lacklustre match despite man advantage | OneFootball

Palmeiras suffered its second defeat in the 2026 Campeonato Paulista, this time to Botafogo-SP, by 1-0, this Sunday, in the sixth round of the State Championship. Under heavy rain at Arena NicNet, Verdão faced a series of difficulties from the start of the match and, even with a man advantage for much of the second half, was unable to react and take any points from the opponent.

Abel Ferreira, continuing the squad rotation that is part of his season plan, sent out a reserve team, completely different from the one that debuted in the Brasileiro midweek or that had beaten São Paulo in the previous round of the State Championship. Vitor Roque, who scored his first goal in the last match, started among the starters.

But from early on, Palmeiras showed problems and seemed out of sync, while Botafogo-SP was more dangerous and even troubled Palmeiras in attack. Luighi had a chance to open the scoring before the ten-minute mark, but was not effective. Meanwhile, Marcelo Lomba made three saves in the first half, while Victor Souza barely had to work.

Giay was involved in a controversial play when he stopped a run by Hygor. VAR called for a review, but nothing was given. In the second half, however, Verdão could not prevent the goal and saw the opponent open the scoring, in a move that had been repeated during the first half.

Leandro Maciel picked up the rebound at the edge of the box after the Palmeiras defense cleared a cross and shot low into the net in the fourth minute. The ball went under Marcelo Lomba's hand and hit the back of the net. Vilar received his second yellow card in the 18th minute of the second half, leaving Palmeiras with a man advantage. But the response, even with some starters on the field, was not enough to even snatch a point.

Center-back Bruno Fuchs was the one creating the most for Palmeiras, insisting on long balls that almost brought Palmeiras the equalizer, but the play was ruled offside. Near the end of the game, Allan fell in the box, VAR also called for a review, and the referee did not award a penalty.

“Afterwards, I repeat, in a poor performance, we often lacked the calm and discernment needed to make the best decisions—sometimes we could have passed better, other times we shot, anyway, there’s very little to say except to take responsibility for the bad game we played here today, against an opponent that was more determined, more intense, more mature, more competitive,” analyzed Abel.

Having already been underwhelming for a few rounds, Palmeiras needs to find itself this season to string together a good run and arrive strong for the knockout stage of the State Championship. The team, in fact, will face Corinthians in the next round. But before that, they take on Vitória in the Brasileiro.

Palmeiras’ Situation in the Paulista

With the defeat, Palmeiras remains in second place, with 12 points, tied with Novorizontino, who can pull ahead if they beat Mirassol this Monday in a match that was interrupted. In the Paulista, Verdão has four wins and two losses.

Palmeiras’ Next Match

Match: Palmeiras vs. Vitória Competition: Campeonato Brasileiro (2nd round) Date and time: February 4, 2026 (Wednesday), at 9:30 p.m. (Brasília time) Venue: Arena Crefisa Barueri, in Barueri (SP)

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