Palmeiras beats Ituano, advances to the semifinals and remains undefeated at Paulista

Owner of the best campaign in the Paulista Championship, Palmeiras had a regular performance this Wednesday (23), but did enough to overcome Ituano by 2-0, at Allianz Parque, and advance to the semifinals of the competition.

Undefeated in the tournament, the alviverde team counted on goals from Raphael Veiga and Rony to conquer their tenth victory in the championship – they still accumulate three draws so far.

In this way, Abel Ferreira’s team will have the advantage of playing at home in the next phase. The opponent will be Red Bull Bragantino, who also played this Wednesday — in Bragança Paulista, they beat Santo André.

The alviverde triumph began to be built just 50 seconds into the match, when Cleberson deflected the ball with his hand in the penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty. Veiga kept his 100% success rate in his 21st charge with the Palmeiras shirt.

Even with the early advantage, Palmeiras could not have a greater volume of offensive plays and expand the marker before the break. In the final stage, Rony scored the second, at 10 minutes.

As Ituano showed no strength to react, the hosts started to manage the score until the end of the match. In the 41st minute, however, he almost recorded the third, but Breno Lopes had a goal disallowed for offside.

The striker, by the way, was almost sent off in stoppage time. He even received a red card when the referee interpreted that he tried to land a shot on Iago Telles, but after consulting VAR (video referee) the referee went back and issued a yellow card.

Red Bull Bragantino returns to the semifinals after 15 years

Also this Wednesday (23), Red Bull Bragantino beat Santo André 1-0, at the Nabi Abi Chedid stadium, in Bragança Paulista, and advanced to the semifinals of the Paulista Championship.

Striker Artur, in the 40th minute of the first half, scored the only goal of the match. Since 2007, the team from the countryside has not reached the State semifinals. That year, he would end up surpassed by Santos, the champion of the edition disputed for 15 years.

“It is a great happiness for us to be able to qualify for the semifinals, after so long,” said the striker.

In the next phase, Bragantino will face Palmeiras, as the team with the best campaign in the tournament – ​​in this case, alviverde – faces the rival with the fourth best campaign. The teams with the second and third best campaigns do the other duel. São Paulo is already classified and awaits the winner of the clash between Corinthians and Guarani, this Thursday (24), at 7 pm, at Neo Química Arena.