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When he was eliminated in a win by Flamengo da Libertadores, in 2019, Grêmio’s coach, Renato Gaúcho, said that the pressure was on the rojinegro because he had spent almost R $ 200 million in hiring his team. He will not be able to use the same argument when he is beaten by Santos in the Libertadores quarterfinals.
On the contrary, in this confrontation, the team with the most resources is Grêmio, which had R $ 100 million more in income this 2020 season. Santos, in turn, had administrative problems – the fall of the president and lack of resources -, an outbreak Covid and embezzlement. He entered the quarterfinals at Vila Belmiro without Soteldo, Pituca and Pará.
Neither that nor the advantage of the goalless draw took away Cuca’s audacity. The Santos coach had his team suffocate Grêmio from the beginning of the year with a high score. He got the result in less than 10 seconds when Jean Pyerre missed the pass and Kaio Jorge won the ball to open the scoring.
In the sequence, Santos could have expanded such was the union deconcentration. On the other hand, Cuca’s team was tremendously competitive, fighting for spaces especially in midfield with Jobson, Sandry and Alisson. I’d win the ball and come out fast.
This is how a manual counterattack gave Santos another goal. Marine Chief, Sandry stretches for Lucas Braga, does he beat Orejuela and cross by? Marinho completed for the goal after a race from zone to zone. The same Marinho that cannot be used in Renato’s Grêmio.
It is true that the Rio Grande do Sul team had two occasions there with Jean Pyerre and Matheus Henrique. But it was little, very little. And there was doorman John to guarantee last minute fun. At the end of the first half, the score could be higher for Santos.
The start of the second half changed the game slightly. Renato exposed his team more to try to recover the score. He continued to have more ball possession, more than 60% on average, but had difficulty generating scoring chances. And keep wandering behind.
Kaio Jorge scored the third in a lack of attention from the union defender in a corner. It was the lime shovel. Of the Santos boys, Kaio scored two goals, Sandry destroyed in midfield in a high-level performance, John made two difficult saves. It demolishes the thesis that the Libertadores is only for great players.
Grêmio played everything, Santos retired. On the bench, the hyperactive Cuca and the resigned Renato made it clear that the vacancy was decided. And it certainly wasn’t about money. The only thing that remained was the goal of the lime shovel, almost naked, for Cuca’s win and apotheosis.
