The first King’s Classic of 2022 ended in a draw. With a tense first half, goalkeeper Fernando Miguel’s failure and João Ricardo’s impeccable performance, Fortaleza and Ceará were 1-1 at Castelão, with Leão do Pici in command. With the result, Tricolor de Aço leads Group A of the Northeast Cup with 7 points. Vozão is the first in Group B, with 4 points in two games.
END OF THE GAME! First tie ends #ClassicoRei of the year. Our goal was scored by Moses.#FORxCEA #VamosFortaleza #CopaDoNordeste pic.twitter.com/JrDB3PMeoy
— Fortaleza Esporte Clube (@FortalezaEC) February 5, 2022
Fortaleza almost opened the scoring in the 13th minute of the first half. Pikachu crossed from the right to the head of Igor Torres, inside the small area, forcing João Ricardo to save the first big chance of the night. Despite the tricolor attack, Vozão opened the scoring in the next minute. Mendoza advanced on the right, threw the ball in the area and Fernando Miguel missed. He jumped late, the ball went under and ended up conceding the first goal of Clássico-Rei.
Leão do Pici grew in the match and reached the tie in a beautiful goal. In the 35th minute, Moisés received a pass from Ronald, dominated at the entrance of the area with his left leg and hit João Ricardo’s corner with a right hand to make everything the same. In the celebration, players from both teams started a fight and the referee gave a red card to Cléber, from Ceará, and Romarinho, from Fortaleza.
The turnaround just didn’t happen at the end of the first half because João Ricardo performed a miracle. At 42 minutes, Lucas Lima crossed on the left and Pikachu appeared alone, inside the small area, to finish. Ceará’s goalkeeper saved with his right foot, over the line.
Fortaleza came back with everything in the second stage. At 9 minutes Moisés received a long throw from Fernando Miguel and released the bomb with his left leg, which exploded on João Ricardo’s crossbar. Vozão’s answer came only in the 23rd minute, with Zé Roberto kicking low, crossed, and the ball passed very close to Fernando Miguel’s right post.
First half pictures #ClassicoRei.
? Leonardo Moreira / FEC#VamosFortaleza #CopaDoNordeste pic.twitter.com/fbVVpZa1VI
— Fortaleza Esporte Clube (@FortalezaEC) February 5, 2022
Despite each team having only 10 athletes, the space on the field was not well used and the teams created little. The last chance of victory was for Leão do Pici, with Depietri, who took advantage of a good move by Romero and shot for João Ricardo to save Ceará once again.
In the next round, Fortaleza will face Náutico, on Saturday (12), at Aflitos, at 17:45 (Brasília time). Ceará will host Sampaio Corrêa on the same day, at Castelão, at 4 pm.
