Luxembourg praises Palmeiras’ Derby performance: “We always had the game under control” | palms

Verdão opened the scoring in the first stage with a penalty from Luiz Adriano: Fagner was sent off for touching the ball inside the area. In the second stage, Gabriel Verón took advantage of Willian’s cross shot to close the scoring in Itaquera.

– We were always in control of the game. We managed to fit in our team in Corinthians, scoring on a higher line what caused the mistake. Keep up the work, right? On finding a lighter equipment, I always said that this is my characteristic. When you can’t, you have to do the opposite. That’s what people sometimes can’t understand, the coach assessed.

More about Palmeiras:
+ Performances by the Verdão players in the Derby
+ Felipe Melo celebrates and provokes: “Suck, opossum”

Even with recent criticism, Palmeiras manages to remain the only undefeated in the Brazilian Championship after eight games – it was four wins and four draws, leaving the team alive with 16 points, four points behind the international leader.

– If you stop to think that there are many good things halfway there. Forget about playing badly to win the championship. Analyzing with coherence and criteria it will be seen that the year is very good. We had two tournaments and we both won. Two defeats of the season, the best defense of the season, several things that are good – Luxembourg analyzed.

– I put a player, another, and now I have found a good space for Lucas Lima. Today he is in a space that he can dominate, think about the game. I like speed. Wesley matured, entered against Bahia, entered well in the last game. That game brought on speed, then Veron came in. We were in control of the game all the time. At no time did I see Palmeiras threatened with defeat – he added.

The victory in Itaquera ended a two-year fast for Palmeiras without beating their rival. Coach Vanderlei Luxembourg highlighted the team’s understanding of the classic.

– It’s that detail, right? Against Corinthians it is a different game. Each player must know that it is a different game. You have to live the intensity that allows you. We won the championship, but we fell behind. Everything was falling behind. They were ahead of 2018, we win now – he said.

Palmeiras will return to the pitch next Sunday, when they host Sport at Allianz Parque, at 7:45 p.m. After the match, Verdão heads straight to La Paz, Bolivia, where he will face Bolívar on Wednesday, for the third round of the Libertadores group stage.

See other excerpts from Vanderlei Luxembourg’s interview:

On the entry of young people

– Young people are entering, but you have to be very careful. Veron has fantastic potential, but he is not the savior of the country. It is very new. Wesley was not well and now he has improved. There are Patrick, Gabriel Menino, Danilo … You have to be a bit calm with the children. You have to do things smoothly, putting and taking, doing whatever it takes. Some things happen, some are ready and some are to happen.

– Lucas has been training a lot. Too bad there is a pandemic and no one can see the training, how much has been dedicated. I spun the team. I found a space where Lucas can float without having anyone on his neck. He has the possibility to put the ball in, see who is in front of him, turn the play … He can go ahead, turn the game, he is in a different field space than he was a while ago. I found a way for him, and he liked that way of playing.

On the use of the five substitutions

– They give privileges within a game to make their team more offensive or defensive. You have to see what you are going to do. Today, even though I won, I made the team more offensive … I put Willian, Veron and Rony to play Corinthians backwards. It makes it easier to preserve, save … I was going to take Luiz Adriano, but I was unlucky. His injury happened before. It came from a sequence.

Return of Felipe Melo and Marcos Rocha

– We will arrive tomorrow to see how they will be, they are in transition. Mayke played very well, he went for the card. We are going to take it easy to return as a player so as not to have problems and return to the medical department.

Chance to save the team on Sunday

– We will travel after the sports game, right after. We take a chartered flight and leave. For the match against Sport, now we will see what the science department will offer us, the recovery of each athlete and we will do an analysis to see who will play against Sport.