In one of the most significant games of the round, Santos dealt Coritiba a major blow. Yet another defeat for the away side saw them relegated to the Serie B.
Marinho and Marcos Leonardo scored the winning goals that keep Santos dreaming about a spot in the next edition of the Libertadores. On the path of Marinho, it sees the 30-year-old reach 17 league goals for the season, level with Internacional’s Thiago Galhardo and Bragantino’s Claudinho. The race for the top scorer award will definitely go down until the last game.
With a woeful tally of 28 points after 35 games, Coritiba are demoted just a year after making their way back to the Brazilian Championship.
Their poor run of form at the moment has seen them win only one out of their last ten games, losing five of them in the process.
The club has now recorded six demotions in their history (1989, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017 and 2020). For their remaining games, Coritiba have only pride to play for against Palmeiras and Ceará at home and a final away fixture against Atlético-GO to end a disappointing campaign.
For Santos, the victory sees them move up to 50 points and in eighth place. They also ended their run of five games without a win.
Santos will fancy keeping their momentum with their next two fixtures to be played at home. They take on Corinthians on Wednesday before another tricky tie against Fluminense on Sunday.
If Pexie win their remaining fixtures and results go their way, they’ll surely take part in the next edition of the Libertadores.
