Thanks to a goal by Patrick, São Paulo defeated Palmeiras 1-0, on Thursday night (23) at Morumbi Stadium, in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Copa do Brasil.
With the victory, Tricolor has a small advantage for the return match (on July 14 at Allianz Parque), qualifying with a draw.
Verdão has to seek to win by two goals difference to guarantee the spot in the 90 minutes. In case of victory by only one goal, the spot will be decided in the penalty shootout.
Coach Rogério Ceni showed personality this Thursday, as he was not shaken by the 2-1 defeat against Palmeiras last Monday (20), for the 13th round of the Brazilian Championship, and kept the starting lineup. The choice proved to be correct, as Tricolor had a good first half, taking the reins of the confrontation and preventing the offensive actions of the team commanded by the Portuguese Abel Ferreira.
And, with so much pressure, São Paulo took the victory in the 30th minute of the first half, when Patrick won a dispute with defender Gustavo Gómez at the entrance of the area, advanced and hit with violence to overcome goalkeeper Weverton.
With the setback in Choque-Rei, Palmeiras saw a streak of 19 unbeaten matches in the current season come to an end.
Cano decides and Fluminense leaves in front of Cruzeiro in the Copa do Brasil
In front of more than 46,000 fans, Fluminense defeated Cruzeiro 2-1, on Thursday night, at the Maracanã stadium, and opened a small advantage in the search for a spot for the quarter-finals of the Copa do Brasil.
With this result, Tricolor das Laranjeiras manages to stamp the spot in the next spot in the competition even with a draw by any score in the return match, which will be played on July 12 at Mineirão stadium from 21:00 (Brasília time) .
In case of victory by Raposa by an advantage goal, the classification will be defined in the penalty shootout. To guarantee themselves directly in the quarters, the miners need to win by two goals advantage.
Pushed by their fans, Fluminense started better, and had a crystal clear chance in the first minute of the ball rolling, when Cano took advantage of a corner kick to finish very well, but Bidu, on top of the line, saved the right goal.
At 17 minutes there was no way out, the Argentine striker put the ball in the back of the goal defended by Rafael Cabral after taking advantage of the ball raised in the area by Arias. However, the referee ended up canceling the bid, with the help of VAR (video referee), when signaling offside the Colombian.
In the 38th minute, the situation improved for the Carioca team, when the side Geovane Jesus was sent off by the referee, with the help of VAR, after entering the midfielder Nonato alone.
With one more, Tricolor increased the pressure, and finally managed to open the scoring in the 45th minute, when Ganso crossed the ball for defender Manoel to head in. But the joy of the Laranjeiras team was short-lived, because in the 51st minute Filipe Machado took a very tight corner for the defender, defender Lucas Oliveira to get ahead of goalkeeper Fábio to equalize.
Knowing that not winning at home with an extra man would be considered a negative result, coach Fernando Diniz released his team even more, which in the 10th minute secured the victory. The young striker Luiz Henrique launched Arias on the right wing. The Colombian advanced and crossed in the measure for Cano only to test to score the winning goal.
Until the final whistle, the Laranjeiras team had other opportunities to expand, including with a ball on André’s post, but the score remained unchanged.
Source: CNN Brasil
