Palmeiras, owned by the Portuguese Abel Ferreira, achieved, as ‘announced’, the second consecutive title of Brazilian soccer champion, by drawing 1-1 at the Cruzeiro field, on the 38th and final day of the competition, which made the historic Santos ‘fall’.
The São Paulo team, which reached the final round with three more points and many goals ahead of Flamengo and Atlético Mineiro, could have lost by any margin, since they lost the only teams that could steal the scepter.
At Mineirão, in Belo Horizonte, Palmeiras entered calmly, given the ‘immense’ advantage they had, and things improved when, in the 21st minute, ‘little’ Endrick opened the scoring, for his 11th goal in his career, the better in the team.
With everything under control, the ‘verdão’ slowed down as the minutes passed and, in the final part, at 80, Cruzeiro, with everything decided in the table (14th), heading to the Copa Sudamericana, reached the tie , through substitute. Nikão.
Palmeiras thus closed the competition with 70 points – it had added 81 in 2022 -, against 68 for Grêmio, which jumped from fourth to second place, by beating the South American champion Fluminense 3-2, with a double in farewell by the Uruguayan Luis Suárez.
The Porto Alegre team beat Atlético Mineiro, led by former Portuguese coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, defeated 4-1 in Bahia, thus guaranteeing their permanence, and Flamengo, defeated 1-0 on the trip to the São Paulo stadium.
The four teams advance to the group stage of the Copa Libertadores – with Fluminense (champion) and São Paulo (winner of the Brazilian Cup) -, unlike Botafogo, which, after leading by 13 points, finished fifth.
The ‘disaster’ of the team that included the ‘deserter’ Luís Castro and the ‘whipped’ Bruno Lage, ended with a 3-1 defeat in the field of Internacional, for the 11th consecutive game without winning (they only won six of the last 33 ). the juice.
The Rio team continues in the qualification for access to the Libertadores, along with Pedro Caixinha’s Bragantino, which finished sixth, after losing 2-1 at Vasco da Gama, which escaped relegation with this victory.
Paulinho, in the 29th minute, and Serginho, in the 82nd minute, sealed the goals for Vasco, while Leo Ortiz scored, in the 63rd minute, the goal for the outsiders, who finished with 10, due to the expulsion of the Ecuadorian central defender Leonardo Realpe, in 76.
Fluminense finished seventh, ahead of Athletico Paranaense (eighth), Internacional (ninth), Fortaleza (10th), São Paulo (11th) and António Oliveira’s Cuiabá, which closed with a 3-0 win over Paranaense, sealed by Clayson (13 minutes). , penalty and 90+6) and Derik Lacerda (17).
Corinthians (13th place) and Cruzeiro (14th) still advance to the Copa Sudamericana, unlike Vasco (15th) and Bahía (16th), while Santos fell to Serie B for the first time, joining Goiás, Coritiba and América Mineiro.
Santos, who only depended on themselves, saw their fall declared after losing 2-1 at home against Fortaleza, winner with goals from Marinho (39 minutes) and the Argentine Juan Ulcero (90+5). Former Rio Ave Messias scored for the locals (58).
The best scorer in the competition was Paulinho, from Atlético Mineiro, who scored his 20th goal on the last day, to finish with three more than Luis Suárez and the former Porto player Tiquinho Soares, from Botafogo, who could not hold the lead. . the table of ‘top scorers’, as well as his team.
Source: TSF
