Choque-Rei narratives: not everything is as it seems | OneFootball

Palmeiras and São Paulo faced each other again at Morumbis after the fateful match in the second round of last year’s Brazilian Championship. Before the rematch, the Choque-Rei had already been played twice in 2026 with home advantage and victories for the green side, both in the state championship.

Palmeiras’ return to their rival’s stadium happened during yet another hectic week behind the scenes. Abel Ferreira, Rui Costa, and Anderson Barros addressed the topic. The coach, who was rightfully sent off in the Choque-Rei, brought up the 2025 incident after defeating Botafogo, while the São Paulo executive mentioned “gross errors” in the Paulistão semifinal against the club he works for, in an interview with “ESPN.” That is not true. Barros, more composed, responded on TV Palmeiras.

The point is that over the past few years, the rivalry has gone far beyond the pitch in an exaggerated way. The truth is, the more São Paulo tries to shift the blame for their failures, the more Palmeiras extends their superiority in direct matchups.

There have been six consecutive Palmeiras victories and 12 unbeaten matches during the 90 minutes plus stoppage time. Even though there have been mistakes, like in last year’s 3-2, it is unjustifiable to try to stir up the fans. The sports media also needs to do some soul-searching, as they too have gone beyond the acceptable limit with unfounded accusations.

In the game of narratives, not everything is as it seems. Not even the Morumbis electronic scoreboard, which showed 3-1 for the home team when the final result was a 1-0 green victory.

As a curiosity, the last time the scoreboard got the result right was in the 2022 state championship final which, believe it or not, also had refereeing controversy. The problem is that the victory on that March night was in vain, since in the return leg Palmeiras thrashed 4-0 and became champions.

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