The Brazilian Championship has heated up over the past few weeks and there was more of that in São Januário on Sunday.
After suffering a shock loss to Sport last time out, Inter had no room for further slip ups as they took on a Vasco side struggling to avoid relegation. However, this game turned out to have lots of talking points.
The biggest talking point of the game came just after 10 minutes when Rodrigo Dourado connected to a cross and headed home the opener for Inter. He was clearly offside but VAR surprisingly did not work.
After three minutes with VAR yet to come in swing, referee Flavio Rodrigues de Souza had no choice but to count the goal in a field decision.
This was something that didn’t sit well with the Vasco players and manager Sa Pinto.
Thiago Galhardo then marked his return to the Inter lineup with a goal in the closing stages to score his 17th goal of the season. That goal saw him move joint-top in the Brazilian Championship scoring charts.
Given that Flamengo were playing at the same time, a slip-up from Inter would have proven costly in the title race. This is because Inter and Flamengo play next week in what is already looking like the ‘final title decider’.
Inter can be crowned champions at Maracanã next Sunday if they beat Flamengo. Only one point separates both teams as it stands. It has been about four decades years ago since Inter won the championship and their last triumph goes all the way back to the 1978/79 season.
At the other end of the table, Vasco could be headed for yet another demotion and this would mark their fourth in the space of 12 years. Should Bahia win Fortaleza next and Vasco fail to score against Corinthians, they would be relegated for sure.
Inter might have won Vasco but the game isn’t over yet. Vasco have already issued out a statement saying they plan to write to the CBF to cancel the match due to the VAR incident. We’ll have to wait and see what becomes of that one.
