Cruzeiro win at Beira-Rio, send warning: contenders don't ask | OneFootball

For weeks, many people treated the return of the Brazilian Championship as if it were a fresh start full of traps for Cruzeiro. The first challenge? Just facing Internacional at Beira-Rio, one of the toughest stadiums in the country. Nothing major, right?

Cruzeiro responded in the best way possible: they won 2-1, showed personality, and returned to Belo Horizonte with three points worth far more than just their place in the table. They bring confidence, momentum, and the certainty that this team is still fighting near the top.

The start was intense. Internacional tried to smother Cruzeiro’s buildup with aggressive marking, pressing from the opening minutes. The strategy looked promising until Cruzeiro decided to play football. Before five minutes had passed, Gabriel Pec, Kaio Jorge, and Matheus Pereira had already created three clear chances, showing that a high press also leaves spaces for those who know how to use the pitch.

The first goal came precisely from that quality. Fagner found Kaio Jorge with a beautiful long ball, and the striker did what center-forwards live to do: put the ball in the net.

After that came the flaw that keeps following Cruzeiro around. The team dropped deeper than necessary, invited Internacional into their own half, and began living dangerously. There was a shot off the post — even though the play was later ruled out — defensive mistakes corrected by Jonathan Jesus, and even a scare caused by goalkeeper Otávio, bailed out by his own defense. It was the kind of script that could have proved costly.

After halftime, however, the match changed completely. Vitor’s extremely violent challenge on Gabriel Pec resulted in an unquestionable red card. Not even the most passionate Internacional fan could defend that tackle. The damage for Cruzeiro, though, went beyond the sending-off: tests confirmed a fracture for Gabriel Pec, the result of the defender’s criminal challenge. With an extra man, Cruzeiro found the spaces they had been missing.

And that was when Matheus Pereira stepped up.

In a move worthy of someone who decides big matches, he glided past his marker with class and finished with his right foot to make it two. A goal that combined technique, personality, and composure. The kind of qualities that make the difference when the game gets heavy.

Internacional still pulled one back through Carbonero, but the feeling was different. Unlike the first half, it was Cruzeiro who created the better chances and could have extended the lead with a little more precision in the final touch.

And there lies the main warning sign. The win was huge, but it also made it clear that this team still needs to improve. Against top-level opponents, wasting so many chances or spending so many minutes pinned back can be costly. The difficulty in escaping intense pressure during buildup still needs to be worked on.

None of that, however, takes away from the size of the result.

Beating Internacional at Beira-Rio has never been a simple task. Some people make it seem as if beating one of the country’s most talented squads away from home is an obligation. Curiously, those same people usually find a thousand excuses when their own favorites stumble in far smaller challenges.

Cruzeiro did not play a perfect match. They did something more important: they played like a competitive team.

And that is exactly what title contenders do. They do not always dazzle for 90 minutes. But they find ways to win.

Now the bar remains high. Before thinking about Flamengo in the Copa Libertadores, Cruzeiro will face a run of matches that will demand the same level of focus: Botafogo and Coritiba in the Brazilian Championship, both matches against Chapecoense in the Copa do Brasil, then Mirassol, again in the league, and only then the much-anticipated continental clash against Flamengo.

But after what happened at Beira-Rio, Cruzeiro also has the right to look ahead without lowering their head. Because a team that beats Internacional in Porto Alegre does not enter a competition just to take part.

It enters to compete.

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