Team with the best campaign in the first phase of the Paulista championshipo Palm trees opens the quarterfinals of State this Saturday, at 6 pm, in front of the black Bridgewith the advantage of having the support of the fans at Arena Barueri, and behind their 11th consecutive qualification to the semi-finals of the competition of which they are the current two-time champions.
Champion in 2020, 2022 and 2023, runner-up in 2015, 2018 and 2021, Palmeiras is the only club present in the last 10 semi-finals of the Campeonato Paulista. Despite having led the general classification, they do not have the prerogative of a draw to advance. The only advantage is playing supported by their fans, at the stadium in Barueri, which became the team’s home while the renovation of Allianz’s synthetic pitch was not finished.
The renovation ended on Friday and the forecast is that, if the team qualifies, it will play the semi-finals at the Palmeiras arena after more than a month and a half away from its stadium. Cork imported from Portugal was installed in place of the old thermoplastic compound, a material that was not very heat resistant and overheated, becoming a rubber paste.
“Any advantage is very important in any championship. Deciding the games at home gives us a small advantage and we are working hard to achieve all our goals”, said midfielder Zé Rafael.
Palmeiras x Ponte Preta Photo: Arte/Estadão
The dynamism of the number 8, who last year played the role of a number 5, but this season returned to playing more advanced with the signing of Argentine Aníbal Moreno, could be an additional weapon for coach Abel Ferreira.
“It’s important to have this versatility, both to help your teammates and for personal reasons. It’s an advantage for me to be able to adapt to some situations and, of course, we train a lot for that too, it doesn’t happen overnight,” she said.
Undefeated for 18 matches overall, adding the 13 games of 2024 and the last five of the 2023 Brazilian Championship, Palmeiras can equal the longest undefeated streak in the Abel Ferreira era, of 19 games (15 wins and four draws), recorded between April and June 2022.
The results remain good, but the performance is questioned by fans, who have seen pragmatic and bureaucratic football. Abel is still looking for the game system and the team’s ideal lineup for 2024.
The coach did some tests throughout the State Championship and seems to have decided that the best plan, at the moment, is to play with three midfielders – Aníbal Moreno, Richard Ríos and Zé Rafael. In the last rounds, he abandoned the system with three defenders. Without Gustavo Gómez, still injured, it is therefore likely that Luan and Murilo will form the defensive duo. At right-back, Mayke, recovered from injury, should start.
It will be the seventh eliminatory duel between Palmeiras and Ponte Preta in history, the fourth in the Campeonato Paulista. The Alviverde team came out on top in the 2008 final and the 2020 semifinal, in addition to the first phase of the 1953 Home Tournament and the semifinals of the Laudo Natel Tournament and the 1973 São Paulo Cup. The Campinas team emerged victorious in the semifinal of the Paulista 2017.
To qualify in second place in Group B, Ponte Preta scored 17 points, 11 less than Palmeiras. The team from Campinas returned to the knockout stages of the State Championship after four years away. One of the team’s weapons is Pedro Rocha, goalkeeper who made the most difficult saves in the championship. There were 17, according to the Footstats platform.
Raphael Veiga and Endrick are Palmeiras’ weapons in the Paulistão knockout stage Photo: ALEX SILVA/ESTADAO
PALMEIRAS X PONTE PRETA: EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PAULISTÃO GAME
- Date: 03/16 (Saturday)
- Time: 6pm.
- Location: Arena Barueri, in Barueri (SP).
WHERE TO WATCH PALMEIRAS
- CazéTV (YouTube).
- Paulistão Play (streaming).
PALMEIRAS AND PONTE PRETA CLIMBS
- PALMEIRAS: Weverton; Mayke, Murilo, Luan and Piquerez; Aníbal Moreno, Richard Ríos, Zé Rafael and Raphael Veiga; Endrick and Flaco López. Coach: Abel Ferreira.
- PONTE PRETA: Pedro Rocha; Castro, Luís Haquin and Nilson Júnior; Igor Inocêncio, Emerson Santos, Ramon Carvalho, Elvis and Gabriel Risso; Iago Dias and Jeh. Coach: João Brigatti.
LATEST RESULTS FROM PALMEIRAS AND PONTE PRETA
- Palmeiras 1 x 0 Botafogo – Paulistão
- Santo André 1 x 0 Ponte Preta – Paulistão