The Youth fell 3-1 on his visit to Sao Paulo this Monday on the penultimate day of Brazilian championship, a result that keeps the hopes of the Guild to remain in the first division, depending practically on a miracle on the last day, next Thursday.
To avoid relegation, the Gremio, one of the most traditional clubs in Brazil and three times champion of the Copa Libertadores, has to beat Atlético Mineiro on Thursday, which last week won the Brazilian Championship title two days in advance, and pray for the defeats of both Bahia and Juventude.
The Gremio, with 40 points, currently occupies the penultimate position in the league standings, that is, it is among the last four, which are punished with the loss of the category, and has the possibility of reaching Bahia and Juventude, that precede it in the table with 43 points each. In the event that he manages to beat the leader at home and the defeats of his two opponents, Gremio will equal them in number of points, but will have the advantage of having a greater number of victories, which is the first classification criterion.
Meanwhile, Bahia will have to make a difficult visit to Fortaleza on the last day, Juventude will host Corinthians, fourth in the standings and who no longer play anything because they already have a guaranteed place in the Copa Libertadores.
The only advantage of the Gremio is that Atlético Mineiro will reserve several of its starters for Sunday, when they will face Athletico Paranaense in the first leg of the final of the Copa do Brasil, a title that they aspire to conquer in order to hold the title. Brazilian double crown this year. Meanwhile, the tricolor of Porto Alegre will align all its starters because it is a life or death match, Mineiro will use substitutes in a match in which it no longer has an interest.
Will they fit the third descent in their history?
But a setback against the new Brazilian champion or a draw or a victory for Bahia or Juventude will punish the Gremio with the third descent to the second division in its history, after having lost the category in 1991 and 2004.
The Guild still survives mathematically despite the fact that on Sunday, In his match for the penultimate day, he gave up a 1-1 draw on his visit to Corinthians after having opened the scoring and kept the lead for most of the game.
It could have fallen to the second division this Monday in case Juventude and Cuiabá won their commitments. But while Cuiabá beat Fortaleza 1-0 and escaped relegation, Juventude failed to achieve victory.
Sao Paulo, with two goals from a prominent Luciano and another from Argentine Jonathan Calleri, beat Juventude 3-1 and saved Gremio for the time being.
Sao Paulo secures a place in the Copa Sudamericana
The victory allowed Sao Paulo to climb to twelfth place in the standings, with 48 points; confirm their permanence in the first division without depending on any results in the last day and guarantee a place in the Copa Sudamericana next year. Juventude only managed to discount at the end of the second half through Sorriso.
In another match on the penultimate round, Athletico Paranaense gave up a 0-0 draw against Palmeiras, which is already guaranteed third place in the standings, with no chance of reaching the champion Mineiro or Flamengo, and has been playing with their substitutes since a week ago, when he won his second Copa Libertadores title.
Paranaense, who won the Copa Sudamericana title last month, used their headlines despite the fact that on Sunday they played the first match of the Copa do Brasil final because they needed at least a draw to guarantee their permanence in the first division. And the tie allowed him to reach 46 points and be out of reach of those who are still threatened with relegation.
Also in the match for the penultimate day, Santos surprised Flamengo in the Maracaná stadium, which they beat 0-1, with a goal from Marcos Leonardo, and, with 49 points, it was also far from the reach of the clubs that are still fighting for no fall to the second.
The result represents another setback for Flamengo, Brazilian champions in 2019 and 2020 and the club with the most valuable team in Brazil, which last month fell to Palmeiras in the dispute for the Libertadores title and this Monday was booed by the 42,000 fans who came to the Maracana.
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