Palmeiras beats Bragantino at Paulista and makes the ninth final with Abel

Palmeiras beat Red Bull Bragantino 2-1 in the semifinal of the Campeonato Paulista held at Allianz Parque, this Saturday (26), the day on which coach Abel Ferreira signed the renewal of his contract with the club.

​With the result, the team will play in the ninth final under the command of the Portuguese coach, who has so far won four titles with the Alviverde squad. Of the eight decisions so far, Abel has won two Libertadores, a Copa do Brasil and a Recopa Sudamericana; he lost a Recopa Sudamericana, a Supercopa do Brasil and a Campeonato Paulista title.

The alviverde team, undefeated and with the best campaign in Paulista this year, reaches the championship decision for the third consecutive year. Last season, Palmeiras faced São Paulo in the final, but ended up defeated by the team then led by Hernán Crespo.

The club began to pave the way for the victory in the first moves of the match. With just under two minutes into the game, Murilo opened the scoring for Palmeiras after a deflection by Gómez.

Bragantino equalized in the 17th minute of the first half, with a goal scored by Realpe after a free kick, but Palmeiras returned to the lead before the break, with a goal from Rony. The visitors put pressure on during the second half, with dangerous moves, but they couldn’t even the score.

The club from Bragança Paulista returned to the semifinals of the Campeonato Paulista after 15 years. In 2007, the club played in the semifinals with Santos and ended up being eliminated.

Palmeiras’ victory in this year’s semifinal crowns the announcement of coach Abel Ferreira’s permanence at the club.

São Paulo and Corinthians face each other this Sunday (27), at Morumbi, at 4 pm. The winner of the classic will compete for the Paulista title with Palmeiras in two matches, home and away, which should take place on March 30 and April 3.​