Palmeiras failed to get past the draw against bottom team Fortaleza
A blackout forced the meeting to be postponed at the Arena Castelao
The Copa Libertadores has taken its toll on everyone except Corinthians, who this Sunday beat Flamengo by the minimum and closed the gap with the leader Palmeiras, who suffered a blackout in Fortaleza, in a sixteenth day of the Brazilian League marked by the goodbye of Fred.
The team led by the Portuguese Abel Ferreira had just endorsed Cerro Porteño with five goals in the round of 16 of the Libertadores, but today they could not go from 0-0 against a Fortaleza that is still bottom of the standings with just two wins.
The match lasted longer than expected due to a short circuit that left the Arena Castelao in the dark when the stopwatch was about to mark the 90th minute.
The same one suffered by the team from São Paulo, who, with an eleven with many starters, avoided a blushing defeat thanks to their goalkeeper, the Brazilian international Weverton. The poor state of the pitch didn’t help either.
Then came the real Castelao blackout. The electricity didn’t come back on and, when the half-hour waiting period stipulated by the regulations had passed, the players changed their shirts and went home.
The point knows little for the almighty Palmeiras, who sees his distance to the front of the Brazilian Championship reduced to just one point.
The encouragement that the Verdiblancos feel is that of Corinthians, who beat Flamengo by a tight 1-0 in a classic without much history between the two most popular clubs in Brazil.
Those led by the also Portuguese Vítor Pereira did not even have to score a goal to take the three points. The Flemish winger Rodinei did it for them, putting the ball into his own goal at the start of the second half.
The team from Rio de Janeiro, which came from running over Deportes Tolima 7-1 in the Libertadores, did not put much effort into the clash either, as they jumped onto the lawn of the Neo Química Arena in Sao Paulo with a lineup made up mostly of substitutes.
The one who did not know how to take advantage of the setbacks in Palma was Atlético Mineiro, the third in discord. The Belo Horizonte club was unable to overcome the 0-0 against Sao Paulo and remains third. Both teams also came from playing international competition this week.
Another of those that Libertadores played was Athletico Paranaense, who on Saturday gave up 2-1 at the home of Goiás. The goal of Uruguayan midfielder David Terans was of no use to Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men.
But the most emotional moment of the day was the farewell at the Maracanã of the experienced scorer and multi-champion Brazilian Fred, idol of Fluminense.
The striker hangs up his boots at the age of 38 for health reasons, as he suffers from diplopia, a “double vision” problem that has forced him to bring his retirement forward.
Saturday’s was a magical night full of emotions for the former Olympique de Lyon player, who ended up crying on the pitch before the thousands of fans who chanted his name in the historic Rio de Janeiro stadium.
“I promised at home that I was not going to cry because I already cried too much. I have to manage to express a little the gratitude I feel for everything this group did, this fan… It is the most humane club I have known in my entire life “, declared the striker with a broken voice, after the 2-1 victory against Ceará.
Frederico Chaves Guedes ends a successful two-decade career in which he broke several goalscoring records. He has scored 417 goals, almost half of them with the ‘Flu’ elastic (199).
He is the second highest scorer in the history of the Brazilian Championship and number one since the current straight points format was adopted (158).
He is also the top scorer in the Copa do Brasil (37) and third among Brazilians in the Copa Libertadores (25). Star numbers for this effective scorer were not always valued when he played with the national team, with which he was proclaimed champion of the 2007 Copa América and the 2013 Confederations Cup. EFE
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