Forwards Diego Costa, Hulk and Chilean Eduardo Vargas, with one goal each, gave victory this Saturday to the Athletic Mineiro, which won 3-0 at Sport Recife and maintained the leadership of Brazilian Championship with seven points of advantage over Palmeiras.
The Belo Horizonte team, led by coach Alexi Stival ‘Cuca’, leads the ranking with an iron fist, accumulating 45 points in 20 games, with just three defeats.
His new victim at the Mineirao stadium was a Sport that is sunk in the relegation places and has already linked seven games without scoring a single goal.
The Mineiro had no mercy and, after several lost occasions, opened the scoring in the 34th minute with a goal from Costa, a brand new reinforcement of the roosters this season. The former Atlético de Madrid and Chelsea striker scored a header thanks to a cross from the left by Guilherme Arana, former Sevilla player.
Just before the break, his partner in the attack, Hulk, who is still on a roll at 35, widened differences by taking advantage of an error from the visiting defense, on the day he announced that he will be a father for the fourth time. The prodigious striker has already scored 21 goals this season, eight of them in the Brazilian Championship, a mark that places him among the top scorers of the tournament.
In the first minutes of the second half, Cuca gave Costa and Hulk rest with a view to the first leg of the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores, which will be played next Tuesday against Palmeiras, their direct rival in the national championship.
Sport squeezed in the final minutes, but the linesman annulled two goals for two offside confirmed by the VAR. Vargas, who had entered for the Hulk, would close the account for Cuca’s box with a penalty in the 98th minute.
Palmeiras adds three vital points
Also this Saturday, Palmeiras, led by Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira, added three vital points in his visit to the Chapecoense field (0-2), bottom of the League with just one victory in his locker.
The Verdiblancos decided the match in the first half through Luiz Adriano and Raphael Veiga, a triumph that allows them to stay alive in the fight for the title and forget the painful defeat at home last matchday against Flamengo by 1-3 .
The Chapecoense, for its part, is moving further away from the salvation posts, which are now twelve points away, waiting for what Sao Paulo does against Atlético Goianiense on Sunday.
On the other hand, Athletico Paranaense beat Juventude 2-1 through Renato Kayzer and Bissoli. For the visitors, who suffered the expulsion of defender Rafael Forster, Ricardo Bueno discounted. This Saturday’s day will be completed with Ceará-Santos and Bahía-Bragantino.
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