Palmeiras concede late, solid defence undone, alarm bells ring | OneFootball

The Palmeiras fans went to bed frustrated after yet another defeat in the Brazilian Championship – their second in a row within a week. This time, the rival was Santos, who scored a goal with Rollheiser at the end of the match and took all three points home.

Despite the result, it can’t be said that the team was disorganized, especially considering they were missing 11 players – six with their respective national teams, two suspended, and three who have been injured for a longer period. Up until the 45th minute of the second half, they were playing a solid defensive game.

If in the first half the team only defended, falling short in attack, in the second half they managed to control the match, even without having more possession, and although they didn’t create many chances, they were also hardly threatened.

But in the first half, it was all Santos. Palmeiras could only watch and resist, with excellent performances from Murilo, Carlos Miguel, who made a miraculous save at 10 minutes, and especially Bruno Fuchs. The rival dominated all the plays in the first half in terms of possession and only didn’t threaten the Palmeiras goal more due to the defense’s good positioning.

Palmeiras clearly felt the impact of their absences in the game. Abel’s changes, bringing in Luighi and Flaco López, altered the team’s tactics, giving them a more dangerous offensive duo when pressing higher, which led to several opportunities. Luighi, twice, and Flaco, twice more, forced Brazão into making good saves.

But the energy ran out, as Abel Ferreira put it in the post-match press conference, and Palmeiras suffered again at the end. Rollheiser, who came off the bench, changed the course of the game. He came on for Zé Rafael and found the back of Carlos Miguel’s net to seal the final score: 1-0.

What now?

With Flamengo’s win in a postponed match against Sport this Saturday, Palmeiras lost the lead. The team from Rio reached 71 points, while Verdão remains at 68 after the defeat.

With five rounds left in the Brazilian Championship, Palmeiras returns to the field next Wednesday (19th) against Vitória, at Allianz Parque, at 7:30 pm (Brasília time), in a rescheduled match from the 37th round. Flamengo, meanwhile, faces Fluminense at 7:30 pm.

Upcoming Palmeiras matches

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