Santos wins Chapecoense and joins the fight for a spot at Libertadores

Santos beat Chapecoense this Wednesday (17), 2-0, in Vila Belmiro, and not only moved away from the relegation zone of the Brazilian Championship, but also came closer to getting a spot in the Copa Libertadores — Marinho was the one who set the score.

With the victory, Fábio Carille’s team reached 42 points and rose from 12th to 11th in the table. This season, it is possible that even the ninth place will qualify for the international competition.

This will depend on the results of the finals of the Libertadores, the Sul-Americana and the Copa do Brasil — respectively between Palmeiras and Flamengo, Athletico-PR and Red Bull Bragantino and Atlético-MG and Athletico-PR.

Lantern of Nacional and already relegated to Serie B, Chapecoense remains stationed at 15 points.

The goal that opened the way to victory was scored in the 26th of the first half, when Marinho converted a penalty suffered by himself, when he was knocked down on the edge of the area.

In the week of Black Consciousness, whose official celebration takes place on the 20th, the shirt 11 celebrated the goal with his arm raised, in a characteristic gesture of the anti-racist fight. The player himself was the victim of racist slurs, uttered by commentator Fábio Benedetti during a broadcast on Rádio Energia 97 FM last year — the professional apologized, but was fired for the episode.

Without the author of the goal, the team from Alvinegro lost what had been the most dangerous player in the duel, until then played at a lukewarm pace, without great emotions.

So much so that the second half was even more tied than the initial stage. In the final minutes, however, Santos reached the second goal with Marcos Guilherme, in the 38th minute, closing the score.