Palmeiras reshape squad, enter Libertadores knockouts with six continental champions | OneFootball

Palmeiras begin another CONMEBOL Libertadores knockout campaign with a reshaped profile, carrying six players who have already lifted the trophy.

According to Nosso Palestra, the sextet are Gustavo Gómez, Joaquín Piquerez, Alexander Barboza, Marlon Freitas, Felipe Anderson and Jhon Arias.

Gómez and Piquerez won the Libertadores with Palmeiras. Barboza and Marlon Freitas were champions with Botafogo in 2024, and Arias lifted the trophy with Fluminense in 2023. Felipe Anderson was in Santos’ 2011 title squad, playing once against Once Caldas, in the campaign that brought the club a third Libertadores.

Andreas Pereira could also join that group, having been part of Flamengo’s 2022 champions. The shift is starker because three of the six arrived in 2026, Barboza, Marlon Freitas and Arias.

After the 1-0 defeat to Flamengo in Lima in the 2025 final, Abel Ferreira highlighted experience as a decisive factor. He summarised it as experience prevailing over irreverence.

He viewed Flamengo as the more mature side for that occasion, while Palmeiras were amid formation and renewal. The new arrivals bring recent title-winning know-how from high-pressure ties, while Gómez and Piquerez embody Abel’s own victorious Palmeiras.

Source: Nosso Palestra

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”