Endrick shines, Palmeiras wins and guarantees a place in the final of the Campeonato Paulista

On Thursday night (28), Palmeiras and Novorizontino faced each other in the semifinals of the Campeonato Paulista. In a match played at Allianz Parque after laying the new synthetic pitch, the team led by Abel Ferreira won 1-0 and booked their place in the grand final and will face Santos to define the champion of the competition.

The qualifying goal came from Endrick's feet, 8 minutes into the final stage, after a header from Paulistão's top scorer, Flaco López. Shortly after, in the 26th minute, Verdão's number 9, feeling severe pain in his leg, was replaced by Rony.

_{Palmeiras' best moments 1×0 Novorizontino. (Video: Reproduction/YouTube/GE)}

With their place secured, Palmeiras reaches the final of the Campeonato Paulista for the fifth time in a row and will try for their third title after 90 years.

1st Half

In a tight first half, Novorizontino's players took the patience of the Palmeiras fans by delaying the release of balls, a tactic used by coach Eduardo Baptista to prevent Palmeiras from becoming superior at the beginning of the match.

Even playing at home, Palmeiras saw Novorizontino take the initiative and have the best opportunities to open the score in the first stage, but Novo Horizonte's attack stopped due to the good defenses of Weverton, who has been redeeming himself after a bad start to the season.

2nd Half

The second half started like the first, with Novorizontino tying up and trying to spend as much time as possible to not let Palmeiras create plays. However, in the 8th minute, Mayke made a perfect cross, Flaco López headed it in and Endrick had time to control the ball, choose the corner and open the scoring for the home team, leading the more than 40,000 Palmeiras fans to the delirium.

_{Endrick was the name of the Palmeiras classification. (Photo: Reproduction/Twitter/@Oledobrasil)}

Eduardo Baptista saw the need to put the team forward and made bold substitutions, causing Novorizontino to attack, but they stopped against a well-placed Palmeiras defense.

Return to Allianz Parque

Palmeiras had not played at Allianz Parque for almost three months, after a ban by the São Paulo Football Federation (FPF), due to the poor condition of the pitch. Now, with a new pitch coming directly from Portugal, the Palmeiras arena was freed up and was able to make a comeback in style with the hosts qualifying for the Paulistão final.

_{Palmeiras returns to Allianz Parque after almost 90 days. (Photo: Reproduction/Instagram/@palmeiras)}

Paulistão’s decision will begin next Sunday (31). As Palmeiras had the best campaign, they will be able to decide at home. The first game will be at Vila Belmiro, at 6pm, and the return game will be on 04/07, with the time yet to be defined.

Revenge atmosphere

Palmeiras and Santos decide the final of the Campeonato Paulista after nine years. In 2015, in the reconstruction of Verdão, the title went to Peixe, which had Ricardo Oliveira as the great Palmeiras executioner. Now, Abel Ferreira's team is going for a rematch and can increase their title gallery even further. On the other hand, the Vila team was runner-up in the Copa do Brasil in the same year as the 2020 Libertadores.

Featured photo: Endrick guarantees Palmeiras' qualification for the Paulistão final. Reproduction/Twitter/@sudanalytics_