Zé Rafael urges belief as Santos fight to escape Z4: "We have to believe" | OneFootball

Santos was defeated by Palmeiras on Thursday night at Allianz Parque, in the 32nd round of the Brazilian Championship. After the match, midfielder Zé Rafael lamented the result that keeps Peixe in the relegation zone, but is focused on the upcoming games.

“As long as the championship is still going, no matter how difficult it is, we have to believe. If anyone gives up, our fight will become even harder. It’s a year of rebuilding for the club, the processes are being put in place again. That’s our fight. Today was a tough game, we knew it would be. We wanted to get points, but it’s over now, we have to keep fighting. We have another tough away game and we need to keep going,” said the player in an interview with Premiere.

The experienced athlete also lamented the points Santos dropped along the way and called for a quick response from the team.

“Regardless of the match, the Brasileirão is very tough. We lost important points at home that could hurt us, but that’s in the past. The focus is on the remaining games, on what we can produce, and I hope we can give a response as soon as possible to get out of this situation that doesn’t please us. We didn’t deserve to be like this,” he demanded.

Tribute

Before the match, Zé Rafael was honored by Palmeiras. The player, who played 311 games for the green-and-white club and won 11 titles, received a plaque and a framed picture from president Leila Pereira. The midfielder spoke about the tribute organized by Verdão.

“I’m happy for the tribute, I spent a long time at the club. I left very quickly, I didn’t have time to say goodbye, to close the cycle. I’m happy to be recognized,” he said gratefully.

Next Santos match

Standings

With the defeat to Palmeiras, Santos remains in the relegation zone of the Brasileirão. Peixe is in 17th place in the table, with 33 points, one less than Vitória, the first team outside the bottom four. In addition, Alvinegro Praiano has now gone four matches without a win in the tournament.

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