PALMEIRAS STUMBLES AGAINST GRÊMIO AND FLAMENGO SHOOTS AT THE BRASILEIRÃO’S LEADERSHIP

Flamengo is the clear leader of the Brazilian Championship. On Thursday night (4), in Caxias do Sul, Palmeiras visited Grêmio and drew 2-2. With the result, Abel Ferreira's team reached 27 points in the league table, but was overtaken by Botafogo, which is now in second, with the same 27. The Rio rival wins by the number of victories.

Now, Flamengo is comfortably in the lead, as it has 30 points on the leaderboard. In the next round, Mengão will host Cuiabá, at 8pm, on Saturday (6). Vice-leader Botafogo plays on Sunday (7), at 8:30 pm, against Atlético-MG, at the Nilton Santos stadium. Finally, Palmeiras also plays on Sunday, but at 6:30 pm, hosting Bahia de Everton Ribeiro at Allianz Parque.

The team from Salvador beat Juventude in this round by 2-0 and reached fourth place in the table, with the same 27 points as Botafogo and Palmeiras. In other words, a direct confrontation in the next round between the Alviverde team and the 'Esquadrão de Aço'.

Even playing away from home, Palmeiras controlled the actions and had 60% of the ball possession compared to just 40% from Grêmio. However, this did not prevent the Grêmio players from finishing: there were 14 shots. On the other hand, the São Paulo team took risks 21 times. Grêmio opened the scoring with Pavón in the second minute and with a penalty, Cristaldo increased in the 70th minute.

However, in the 74th and 77th minutes, Palmeiras sought a draw with Flaco López and Estevão, respectively. After that, the match slowed down and ended in a 2-2 draw. Palmeiras' defeat would be better for Flamengo, but the draw already guarantees a smile on the red-black fans' faces.