Error in Final Fall is Mantra to Avoid New Drama

Quoting ‘Clean sheet’, ‘cool head and warm heart’ and ‘we are all one’ are mantras well known by Abel Ferreira at Palmeiras. However, the team has many others, and among them is ‘eleven in, eleven out’ — which was not followed in the last elimination at the Allianz Parque — and needs to appear in today’s game against River Plate, in the decisive match of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals, to avoid a new drama at the Palmeiras stadium. The Palmeiras released behind-the-scenes footage of the victory against River in Argentina and showed a great mobilization of the coaching staff for one objective in the match: not to have anyone expelled. Coach Abel Ferreira and Rogério Godoy, the team’s goalkeeper coach, reiterated the speech in the locker room before kick-off: ‘eleven in, eleven out’. Rogério Godoy is the creator of this catchphrase. The Palmeiras employee is an active voice in the team’s locker room, delivering motivational speeches to the players in some matches. He has been with Palmeiras since June 2020 and is highly trusted by the players. The club assures that the catchphrase is not related to the expulsions of Palmeiras in the 2022 Copa Libertadores. At the time, the Alviverde suffered with expulsions in the decisive quarterfinal matches against Atlético-MG (two expulsions) and in the semifinal against Athletico-PR (one expulsion still in the 1st half). For the Palmeiras coaching staff, not having expulsions is crucial to maintain a balanced duel — especially in the Libertadores, which has home and away matches in the decisive phase. Palmeiras Did Not Follow Mantra in Last Knockout Stage and Lived Drama at Allianz The Alviverde saw Aníbal Moreno being sent off 15 minutes into the 1st half of the second leg of the Copa do Brasil Round of 16 against Corinthians, and experienced one of the most hostile nights in the history of the Allianz Parque — no one was spared from the fans’ insults. The team ended up defeated 2-0 that day, and felt firsthand the importance of not having anyone sent off that day. Keeping all players on the field will be crucial for Palmeiras to end a negative streak: there have been eight eliminations playing in front of their fans during Abel’s era. The eliminations at the Allianz in Abel’s era are: CRB (Copa do Brasil), São Paulo (Copa do Brasil), Athletico-PR (Libertadores), São Paulo (Copa do Brasil), Boca Juniors (Libertadores), Flamengo (Copa do Brasil), Botafogo (Libertadores) and Corinthians (Copa do Brasil). Palmeiras won the first leg 2-1 at the Monumental de Núñez, and advances to the Libertadores semifinals with a draw. If River wins the match by one goal difference, the decision will go to penalties.