A successful season for Verdão despite their poor rating in League. That’s because Palmeiras is the new Libertadores champion and are the favourites to win Brazilian cup to be played on March 7.
Things started very badly for Verdão, with the old-fashioned Vanderlei Luxemburgo not being able to transfer from his successful time with relegation contenders Vasco last season to a title contender. Palmeiras struggled to keep a winning streak, and had more draws than wins in the first 11 rounds.
However, they were not losing either, which gave an appearance of a solid team being built from behind. Only it wasn’t, the lack of attacking dynamics was blatant and soon the team started to concede defeats.
Things got worse when their source for creativity in attack, the youngster Wesley, picked a serious injury, and let Palmeiras even weaker in attack. A series of defeats in October led to ‘Luxa’s’ sacking, eventually.
Portuguese Abel Ferreira was brought in (the third Portuguese hired in Série A after Jorge Jesus legendary season with Flamengo, last year). Unlike Jesualdo and Sá Pinto, Abel made an immediate positive impact and drove his team into a confidence-booster winning streak.
But then January came, and the priority had to be Libertadores. Palmeiras won the competition and was set to compete the Club’s World cup, which meant less focus in League, and a lot of delayed games that had to be played with an inhumane interval in between.
Palmeiras played 17 games from 6th January to 26th February, with a trip to Argentina and another one to Qatar in between. Something had to be given, and it surely was league performance (World cup was also a failure).
Abel’s huge competence made clear that this squad is one of the strongest in the country. They will surely be a tremendous force with a full pre-season led by Abel and just a couple of strong new signings.
