Flaco López is the name of Palmeiras in the 2024 season. Pinned by Abel Ferreira, the Argentine is going through his best phase and gave the club another victory this Thursday, in the eighth round of the Campeonato Paulista. The center forward entered the final stretch and scored the only goal of the game against São Bernardo, which made him the State’s top scorer, with five balls in the net, surpassing Raphael Veiga.
The unbalanced foot of Palmeiras players is a recurring problem, already addressed by the coach. Ineffectiveness in attack moves undermines any strategy. Chances and game control remained for the alviverde team. Endrick did very well, but did not find collaboration among his colleagues. Gabriel Menino and Rony made several mistakes. It was up to López to resolve it again.
Palmeiras is at the top of Group B, with 17 points, placing second in the general classification. São Bernardo, in turn, remains outside the Group D classification zone, with 12 points, in third place.
Abel chose to spare the starters again. The big news was Endrick’s return after the failure with the under-23 team that was left out of the Paris Olympics. An important absence was Raphael Veiga, who has an eye infection.
Palmeiras did not leave São Bernardo at ease and pressed in search of the first goal. The partnership between Rony and Endrick began to bear fruit with great chances created in favor of the alviverde team. The big problem is aim, which has been lacking in the team for many months.
São Bernardo lowered its lines even further to protect the entrance to the penalty area. The new positioning hindered the intentions of Palmeiras, who had no defensive concerns, but needed to move with more speed to free themselves from the tough pressing of the ABC team.
In the 29th minute, one of the stadium’s lights went out completely, interrupting the match. After 24 minutes, the energy was restored, and the ball was able to roll again. Not even the break took away Palmeiras’ control of the match. Endrick was proactive, but his teammates didn’t seem to have a good night technically. The one who took Abel out of his mind was Gabriel Menino. The steering wheel missed almost everything he tried.
After half-time, the game was truncated, with many fouls. Opportunities were scarcer. The few fell at the feet of Rony, who abused his mistakes and missed consecutive moves. Even so, Abel insisted on him and removed Endrick from the field, who gave way to López.
Excessive possession of the ball proved to be a defect at Palmeiras. This characteristic is not common for Palmeiras. Such discomfort, proposed by São Bernardo, actually hindered the alviverde team. In the final part, the visitors once again took risks with medium-range shots.
With just a few minutes left, Abel promoted the debut of Lázaro, who recently arrived from Spanish Almería. He replaced Marcos Rocha to increase the Palmeiras offensive presence in a last attempt to score a goal. The boy Estêvão had vision of the game on the right side, left-handed cross into the penalty area and López, at his strongest, headed the ball and scored the winning goal for Palmeiras, at 42.
Palmeiras’ next commitment is the derby. The duel with arch-rival Corinthians takes place on Sunday, at 6pm, at Arena Barueri. São Bernardo, in turn, hosts Santo André, on Monday, at 7pm.
DATASHEET
SÃO BERNARDO 0 X 1 PALMEIRAS
SÃO BERNARDO – Alex Alves; Vitor Ricardo (Hugo Sanches), Hélder, Pedro Carrerete (Rafael Forster) and Arthur Henrique; Rodrigo Souza and Lucas Lima (Wesley); Matheus Régis, Silvinho (Alan Santos), Lucas Tocantins and João Carlos (Romisson). Coach: Márcio Zanardi.
PALMEIRAS – Marcelo Lomba; Marcos Rocha (Lázaro), Murilo, Naves and Vanderlan (Piquerez); Moreno and Boy (Richard Ríos); Jhon Jhon and Luís Guilherme (Estêvão); Rony and Endrick (Flaco López). Coach: Abel Ferreira.
GOAL – Flaco López, at 42 minutes of the second half.
REFEREE – Luiz Flávio de Oliveira.
YELLOW CARDS – Vanderlan, Jhon Jhon, Rafael Forster, Wesley Dias, Hélder, Pedro Carrerete and Lucas Lima.
AUDIENCE – 6,176 fans.
INCOME – R$527,550.00.
LOCATION – 1º de Maio Stadium, in São Bernardo do Campo.