Gabigol scores on return as Santos rally to beat Novorizontino | OneFootball

Santos kicked off the 2026 Campeonato Paulista on the right foot. This Saturday, Peixe beat Novorizontino 2-1, coming from behind, at Vila Belmiro, in the first round of the State Championship. Diego Galo opened the scoring for the visitors, while Gabigol equalized and Thaciano secured the comeback.

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Gabigol returned to play for Alvinegro Praiano after seven years. Signed on a one-year loan from Cruzeiro, the center forward started the match and scored the equalizer. The fans, who had already sung his tribute song before kickoff, went wild with the goal.

Standings

With this result, Santos earns three points and temporarily occupies second place. Novorizontino is in 15th, with zero points. The top eight teams qualify for the knockout stage. The bottom two will be relegated to Série A2.

MATCH DETAILS ?⚪️⚫️ SANTOS 2 X 1 NOVORIZONTINO 🟡⚫️

🏆 Competition: Campeonato Paulista (first round) 🏟️ Venue: Vila Belmiro, in Santos (SP) 📅 Date: January 10, 2026 (Saturday) ⏰ Time: 4:00 PM (Brasília time) 👥 Attendance: 13,091 💰 Revenue: R$879,897.37 🟨 Yellow Cards: Rollheiser, Zé Ivaldo, Gustavo Henrique (Santos) 🟥 Red Cards: None

Refereeing

Goals

Santos

Gabriel Brazão; Igor Vinícius, Adonis Frías, Zé Ivaldo (Luan Pares) and Escobar; Willian Arão, João Schmidt (Gustavo Henrique) and Rollheiser (Thaciano); Lautaro Díaz (Mateus Xavier), Caballero (Robinho Jr.) and Gabigol.

Novorizontino

Jordi; Gabriel Bahia, Alvariño, Patrick and Mayk; Luis Oyama (Vinícius Paiva), Léo Naldi, Tavinho (Airton Moisés), Diego Galo (Nicolas Careca) and Rômulo (Juninho); Robson (Matheus Bianqui).

How the Match Went

Santos started the match lively, trying to press their rivals. Just two minutes in, Gabigol even found the net, but the goal was disallowed as Willian Arão, who provided the assist to the debutant, was offside.

Afterwards, Peixe kept pushing and created two good chances. First, Gabigol was stopped by a great save from Jordi. Then, Rollheiser shot over the bar.

As time went by, the home team slowed down, and it proved costly. At the 24th minute, Novorizontino opened the scoring. Diego Galo was left alone on the left, entered the box, and shot across goal. The ball went under Brazão and ended up in the back of the net.

Trailing, Santos tried to attack again. At 28, Jordi came out poorly and left the ball at Caballero's feet, who shot from distance, but missed. Moments later, the striker was sent through at speed, dribbled the goalkeeper, and when it was time to score, finished poorly, frustrating the fans.

2nd Half

After the break, Peixe finally managed to score. At six minutes, Rollheiser stole the ball in midfield and played it to Lautaro, who found Gabigol in the box. The striker held off the defender and passed back to Rollheiser. The Argentine shot first time, but the ball hit the defender. On the rebound, Gabriel Barbosa blasted it in to level the score.

With 27 minutes on the clock, the comeback almost happened. Igor Vinícius took a dangerous free kick and Thaciano headed it onto the crossbar. In the end, the midfielder got another chance and this time didn't waste it. At 43, Igor Vinícius made a play down the right and crossed into the box. Thaciano then redirected it into the corner to turn the game around and seal the win for Santos.

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Santos' Next Match

Novorizontino's Next Match

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