Goiás and Grêmio shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw at the Estádio da Serrinha on Saturday night. Grêmio had a mixed lineup with some of their first team players rested but that was understandable as they already had one eye on the Libertadores which is up-coming next week. For Tricolor, two points lost was a ‘bad result’ for them as a win could have seen them move up to third place. For Goiás, it is a point gained against strong opposition as they continue to battle it out in the relegation zone.
Goiás took the start of the game by storm and already made a goal-scoring attempt just after 30 seconds.
Vanderlei was equal to the task to prevent his side from conceding an uncharacteristic early goal. However, it was Grêmio that dominated play and even had more than 60% of possession in the half but a clinical edge in front of goal is all that was lacking. Orejuela, Pepê and Lucas Silva had chances of their own to score but blew them while Fernandão of Goiás also had a chance that was off the mark as well.
Goiás returned better in the second half but the same story of clear-cut chances remained with both sides and they eventually played out to a goalless stalemate after 90 minutes.
With the result, Goiás still remain rooted in the relegation zone but at least moved one spot up to 19th place. Gremio are in sixth place with 41 points but can still be leap-frogged by Santos and Fluminense who are yet to play their games.
Grêmio will return to the pitch on Wednesday for their Libertadores quarter-final clash (return leg)against Santos before they face Sport in the Brasilerao on Saturday. Goiás wait until next Monday before their clash against Corinthians.
