Brasileirão round-up: Palmeiras sneak by Atlético, Vasco upset Grêmio | OneFootball

Week 14 of the Brasileirão promised to be full of great action with famous derby matches and important duels filling the fixture list.

Here’s what happened in full:

Flamengo 2 Botafogo 0

After being shut out at home against São Paulo at home earlier in the week despite 25 shots and 71% possession, the Brasileirão leaders needed a commanding victory to keep their place atop the standings and send a message to the rest of the league. Luckily for the Flamenguistas, the match was put out of reach very early. Just five minutes in, Matheus Sávio scored an unbelievable curler that was meant to be the cross, very much aided by the wind.

Less than two minutes later, Premier League target Lucas Paquetá finished off a brilliant run of play, allowing Flamengo to ease up against a much weaker Botafogo side for the rest of the match.

São Paulo 3 Corinthians 1

In what was billed to be the match of the weekend, SPFC dominated the second half of the Clássico Majestoso, lighting up Corinthians for three goals over the course of 26 minutes before the visitors scored a garbage goal in injury time to deny SPFC of a clean sheet.

Anderson Martins opened up the scoring for the home side, and, after being asked by manager Diego Aguirre to be more attacking minded, he participated very well in attack moves and left his mark twice. He left the field cheered by the fans. The Paulistas have won four in a row, including one against league-leaders Flamengo to get within one point of the top spot in the Brasileirão.

Vasco 1 Grêmio 0

The upset of the weekend occurred in Rio this weekend as Vasco earned a much-needed victory over a defending Copa Libertadores champions Grêmio, even after going down a man in the 32nd minute. The Almirante got off to a flying start with Andrés Ríos scoring a freak goal just three minutes into the contest for his fifth of the season.

This was undoubtedly Vasco’s best match of the season, as they continued to attack and nearly doubled their lead on multiple occasions despite playing with 10 men for over an hour and having to unfairly deal with six added minutes of injury time. Grêmio piled on shot after shot, but Vasco’s defense played with heart, passion, and desire to jump in front of several shots and make a number of flying tackles to preserve the clean sheet and vault into ninth with a match in hand.

Palmeiras 3 Atlético 2

Palmeiras eventually came out on top despite losing the lead twice, with Bruno Henrique completing his brace in the 94th-minute to end a run of three straight draws and go level on points (23) with Atlético and Internacional for fourth place. After the home side got out to a fast lead three minutes in, the teams traded goals late in the second half until Henrique broke the deadlock in the most dramatic of fashions.

It was the first time Palmeiras have triumphed over Atlético in over three years. Also, check out Henrique’s stunning free kick that will make highlight reels all around the world.

Paraná 1 América-MG 0

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Paraná defeated América at home with the lone goal of the match coming through Rodolfo’s 15th-minute strike in a massive match in the bottom half of the table. Paraná’s victory gave them a massive three points to bring them up to 13 and on the verge of exiting the relegation zone.

América stayed at 14 points and joined Paraná in the bottom-four, João Ricardo made a couple of spectacular saves in the second half to earn a clean sheet.

Bahia 4 Vitória 1

Bahia shockingly made light work of their opponents to climb out of the relegation zone and all the way up to 13th place, although the Bahiaço are just two points above the top four. Zé Rafael, Vinícius, Tiago and Gilberto all scored for the home side, and they have now went nine Clássico Ba-Vis without suffering defeat.

Sport Recife 1 Fluminense 2

Sport Recife had the dubious honor of being the only home side in the Brasileirão to suffer defeat this weak, missing out the opportunity to be within just two points of third-placed Cruzeiro. Instead, they are in 10th, just one point above Fluminense, who would have been just one point above the drop zone with a defeat. It’s safe to say Brazil’s top division is incredibly tight after the 14th round.

Young 21-year-old striker Pedro added a brace, including an unreal backheel finish, to take control of the Brasileirão lead with nine goals, level with former Atlético striker Róger Guedes, who was recently sent to China by parent club Palmeiras. His 86th-minute winner ended Flu’s streak of six consecutive matches without tasting victory.

Cruzeiro 2 Paranaense 1

Although PR got off to a shock lead on the road, Cruzeiro never looked like losing this contest, canceling out a first-half reckless penalty with second-half goals from Giorgian de Arrascaeta, home from the World Cup with Uruguay, and former Argentina international Hernán Barcos, the latter coming in the 81st minute. Whether he was offside or not will be debated all night.

Cruzeiro are having themselves a fantastic season, finding themselves in third place and preparing for next month’s Copa Libertadores knockout stage duel with Flamengo. It’ll be tough for them to look ahead, however, as they have four matches prior to their South American clash on 8 August.

Chapecoense 0 Santos 0

This match was a snoozer. The Santos of old is gone and are suffering to stay afloat in Brazil’s top flight and are only one point above the drop as they near the half-way point of the season. However, they still have the Copa do Brasil quarter-finals and the Copa Libertadores knockout round to look forward to. At least their kits are still amazing.

Chape are just two points above the drop themselves. They also have Copa do Brasil quarter-final action coming up next week, although defeating Corinthians over two legs seems like a nearly impossible task.

Internacional x Ceará: Monday night