Palmeiras loses to Fluminense and sees Botafogo move further away in the table

Fluminense and Palmeiras faced each other on Wednesday night (24) at Maracanã, for the 19th round of the Brazilian Championship. With more than 51 thousand fans in attendance, the Rio de Janeiro team, which is in second-to-last place, needed the victory more than ever to escape the Z-4, counting on the support of the fans throughout the 90 minutes. Defender Thiago Silva made his return to Maracanã defending the colors of Fluminense, and the fans liked the performance of the tricolor defender.

Palmeiras, without the suspended Abel Ferreira, were looking for a win to close the gap on leaders Botafogo, who drew 2-2 with São Paulo at Morumbi. Even with Dudu, Felipe Anderson and Raphael Veiga playing together, Verdão did not perform well, creating very few goal chances.

First time

The home team's fans were pleased with Fluminense's performance in the first half, especially in the first 20 minutes. As the game progressed, Palmeiras adjusted until they managed to balance the match, with the best opportunity coming from midfielder Jhon Arias.

The match, refereed by Wilton Pereira Sampaio, was marked by many fouls and yellow cards for both teams.

Second time

In the second half, both teams made changes. For Fluminense, Marquinhos was replaced by Kevin Serna, while for Palmeiras, Raphael Veiga and Aníbal Moreno were replaced by Richard Ríos and Gabriel Menino. With the game more even, Palmeiras began to press more, but without success, especially with Flaco López, later replaced by Rony, who performed below expectations.

_{Arias celebrating the goal against Palmeiras. (Photo: Reproduction/Instagram/@fluminensefc})

The game remained technically weak, with the two defensive pairs standing out positively, who received praise for their performance. However, after a Fluminense counterattack on the left flank with Kevin Serna, the Colombian crossed low to his compatriot Jhon Arias, who finished past Weverton, scoring the only goal of the match.

JHON ARIAS DECISIVE, CRUCIAL, GENIUS!!!

FLUMINENSE SURVIVES! 3 POINTS TO LEAVE THE DRAWN UP ZONE!! pic.twitter.com/zgAjwZAxqB

— World Cup Night (@Noitedecopa) July 25, 2024

_{Winning goal scored by Jhon Árias. (Video: Reproduction/Twitter/@Noitedecopa)}

With this victory, Mano Menezes' team reached 14 points, the same score as Atlético-GO, but the team from Goiás was in last place in the table due to tiebreaker criteria. Palmeiras wasted the opportunity to get closer to the leader Botafogo and ended up giving up second place to Flamengo, who beat Vitória away from home by 2×1.

Now, Fluminense is preparing to face Bragantino in Bragança Paulista next Sunday (28), at 11 am, while Palmeiras returns to Allianz Parque thinking about the match against Vitória on Saturday (27), atat 7pm.

Featured photo: Fluminense and Palmeiras lined up before the match started. Reproduction/Cesar Greco/Palmeiras