Victor Gabriel stars as Palmeiras qualify in thrilling Copinha | OneFootball

The Palmeiras advanced to the third phase of the São Paulo Junior Football Cup by eliminating Vitória in a penalty shootout (3-2) after an electrifying 3-3 draw in regular time, on Tuesday night, in Barueri. The highlight of the action-packed game was the forward Victor Gabriel, 19 years old, who scored two goals in regular time and made a good penalty kick.

One of the players with the least time at Palmeiras among the 30 registered in the Copinha, Victor joined Verdão in September, coming from Grêmio Novorizontino, where he had been since 2024 – before that, he played for Grêmio São-Carlense. Besides him, Felipe Teresa also joined in September and are the most recent signings.

Before the Copinha, Victor played for Verdão only six times in the final stages of the Paulista Championship – scoring two goals – which was enough to secure his spot among the 30 names and a starting position in place of Riquelme, who was promoted to the professional team.

In this Copinha, the young player is the top scorer for Palmeiras, with four goals in three games, along with two assists. A fast forward who plays both on the wing and in the center, he became one of the team's center-forwards after the injury of number 9 Heittor in the debut match against Monte Roraima – he had been positioned as a left winger on that occasion but started playing centrally with Eduardo's entry.

Young player is on loan at Palmeiras

Palmeiras secured the player's signing in September on a loan with an option to buy. The player's contract with Alviverde is for one season – until September 2026.

At Grêmio Novorizontino, the player had 15 games with eight goals scored in 2025. In 2024, Victor played 27 times with nine goals for the team from the interior of São Paulo. He was even listed for the professional team of the Novo Horizonte club.

The goals

Victor Gabriel was the key player in Palmeiras' hard-fought victory and made his mark just seven minutes in. The initial plays were scrappy, but Palmeiras soon broke the game open with a perfect cross from André Lucas for Victor to head in and open the scoring – the forward was offside, but without VAR, the goal stood.

He also scored Verdão's third goal in the match. At 41 minutes of the second half, again with a header, a goal that took the match to penalties. In the shootout, he confidently took the second penalty for Palmeiras.

And now?

Now, the opponent will be Flamengo-SP, who eliminated Monte Roraima-RR on Tuesday afternoon in Guarulhos. The third-phase match will be on Thursday (15), at Arena Barueri. The time will be confirmed later by the FPF.

The Academy's Youngsters are in pursuit of their third Copinha title. In 2022, Verdão won the tournament for the first time by thrashing Santos 4-0 in the final at Allianz Parque, with goals from Endrick, Giovani, and Gabriel Silva (twice). The following year, they claimed the championship again with a 2-1 victory over América-MG in the final at Canindé, with goals from Ruan Ribeiro and Patrick.

See Palmeiras' upcoming matches in the Copinha:

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