Goiás beats Cruzeiro with a decisive goal and leaves the relegation zone

Goiás beat Cruzeiro 1-0 at Independência, for the 16th round of the Brazilian Championship, the decisive goal was scored by João Magno. The victory made Esmeraldino leave the relegation zone and ended a sequence of four matches without a win in the Brasileirão, at the same time that it won its first victory in the competition under the command of coach Armando Evangelista.

Raposa lost one position in the standings, being overtaken by Internacional, who managed a goalless draw against Bragantino. With this change, Cruzeiro now has 22 points, while the Gauchos have 23.

Cruzeiro entered the field with a special symbol on the shirt, a tribute to Palhinha, a former player and idol of the club from Minas Gerais, who died last Monday (17), at the age of 73.

_{Cruzeiro’s homage to the idol Palhinha. (Photo: reproduction/Twitter/@Cruzeiro)}

FIRST TIME

Cruzeiro dominated the game, the club had more ball possession and the best goal opportunities. However, they struggled to be effective in attack, wasting several chances to open the scoring. On the other hand, Goiás was very precise in their offensive play, scoring a goal in the 27th minute. Sander made a perfect cross from the left, and João Magno got ahead of the opponent’s defense, heading with precision to beat the goalkeeper Rafael Cabral. At the end of the first half, the Celeste team pressed for the goal, and players like Willian and Machado had opportunities to score. Unfortunately, the lack of accuracy in finishing prevented the celestial goal.

SECOND TIME

In the second half, Cruzeiro came back determined to seek a draw and turnaround, but Goiás was not content with just defending itself. The team from Goiás surprised the opponent with some offensive moves in the first minutes. Despite this, Cruzeiro managed to regain control of the match, but faced difficulties in finding spaces in the well-organized defense of Goiás, which made the home game somewhat bureaucratic. With difficulties in creating plays on the field, Cruzeiro bet on set pieces to try to draw. In the 30th minute, they almost managed to equalize the score with Mateus Vital, who took advantage of the rebound after a corner kick, but the ball went very close to the crossbar. Meanwhile, Goiás continued to adopt the same posture as at the beginning of the game, guaranteeing the important victory at Arena Independência, which resulted in boos from Cruzeirense fans, dissatisfied with yet another stumbling block in the Brazilian Championship.

NEXT GAME

Cruzeiro will play against Athletico-PR next Saturday, at 6:30 pm (Brasília time). Goiás will have a home game against Grêmio, which will take place on July 31, a Monday, ending the 17th round of the Brazilian Championship.

Featured Photo: Players from Goiás celebrating a goal against Cruzeiro. Reproduction/Rosiron Rodrigues/Goiás EC