Cruzeiro struggle for cutting edge, stumble at Mineirão against Sport | OneFootball

Cruzeiro and Sport faced off on the evening of this Sunday (5th) in a match valid for the 27th round of the Série A of the Brazilian Championship. The game, which took place at Mineirão, featured a Cruzeiro team aiming not to distance itself from the leaders Palmeiras and Flamengo, while Sport – the bottom team of the championship – was seeking its recovery campaign.

With several absences due to suspension, Leonardo Jardim was forced to modify his team and chose to start with a young and fast squad, placing Jonathan Jesus in defense, Kauã Moraes on the right, and Arroy on the wing. Gabigol, as expected, took charge of the attack in Kaio Jorge's absence. Thus, Cruzeiro took the field:

First Half

Cruzeiro started the game by the book, pressuring Sport into mistakes and placing almost the entire team in the attack zone, intending to use ball possession to reach their goal. For Sport, the only option was a quick connection attempt to take advantage of counterattacks, as they had little ball possession due to the pressure marking by Cruzeiro.

Early in the match, Cruzeiro suffered a significant blow in the midfield. After a ball dispute, Matheus Henrique came out worse and had to leave the field, carried on a stretcher, at 14 minutes. Christian, who had started on the bench, took his place.

And Cruzeiro's blitz ended up putting Sport against the wall: with many good chances created, the biggest enemies of the celestial team were goalkeeper Gabriel, the post – which stopped a shot from Matheus Pereira – and the lack of accuracy, as the team managed to reach the finalization in most of the chances they created, especially when Gabigol was called upon.

In one of the best finishes, Gabigol skillfully hit the crossbar. With a lot of speed, especially on the right side, where the young Kauã Moraes was having a great match, Sport, at this moment, only had the chance to defend and watch Cruzeiro pile up wasted chances. Kaiki had a great opportunity but ended up sending it wide. Arroyo was disrupting the opposing defense and managed to find teammates in the penalty area, but finishing remained a problem.

Cruzeiro's blitz continued for a long time, but the ball stubbornly refused to go in. And if there's a saying in football that happened at Mineirão, it's “who doesn't score, concedes”: After missing so many goals, Derik was launched in a long ball counterattack, he broke away from the offside line and, face to face with Cássio, just took the goalkeeper out to finish and open the score at 40 minutes of the first half: Cruzeiro 0 to 1 Sport.

Cruzeiro resumed the pressure in search of the equalizing goal. The team continued to reach the penalty area with quality but finished poorly and couldn't score. Sport was encouraged by the advantage and started to counterattack with more quality and almost scored the second, with Derik again, but this time the ball hit Cássio's crossbar.

Cruzeiro's pressure, throughout almost the entire first half, ended up having no effect. With over 65% ball possession and 12 shots, Cruzeiro went into the break without scoring and losing: Cruzeiro 0 to 1 Sport.

Second Half

Without changes, Jardim's Cruzeiro returned to the field with the same offensive stance, but this time more concerned about counterattacks. Cruzeiro suffered another blow before even 5 minutes into the second half: Jonathan Jesus got injured and had to leave, making way for João Marcelo. Jardim also chose to bring Sinisterra in place of Lucas Silva at the same time.

After a cooler start, mainly due to stoppages, Cruzeiro returned even more offensively, practically without defensive midfielders, and also began to suffer more with Sport breaking out at speed, leaving a much more open and “trading blows” game between the teams.

And it was at a moment when Matheus Pereira, with space, made a beautiful pass to Gabigol. The number 9 pulled to his right foot, catching Sport's defense off guard and shot into the back of the net, equalizing the game at 13 minutes of the second half: Cruzeiro 1 to 1 Sport.

The game continued with the teams trying to threaten the opponent's goal. Cássio was being more tested, while Sport's defense continued to be pressured by Cruzeiro's attack and repelling all the chances created by the celestial team.

In an attempt to give more consistency and speed to the team, two more changes were made by coach Leonardo Jardim: Marquinhos came in for Kauã Moraes and Ryan Guilherme, a midfielder, replaced Christian.

Despite maintaining the pressure, in search of the turnaround, Cruzeiro was now creating less and also battling against the clock, but increasingly showing fewer signs of being able to score the winning goal. Sport opted to waste more time and no longer advanced with the speed seen at the beginning of the second half. The best chance, in fact, in the final minutes, was for Sport: Barletta received in the small area and sent it wide.

With the draw, Cruzeiro reaches 52 points and is 3 points behind Palmeiras and Flamengo, both with 55 points and fewer games compared to Cruzeiro.

What's Next…

Now Cruzeiro prepares for the classic against Atlético, but only after the FIFA date break, on Wednesday, October 15th, at Arena MRV.

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