On Wednesday night in Beira-Rio, Atlético-MG defeated Inter 1-0 in the fourth round of the Brazilian Championship, thanks to a well-executed counterattack.
One minute into the game, Jair stole the ball in midfield, passed it to Hulk in space, who then set up Nathan for the game’s first goal.
Galo have now won five consecutive games in all competitions, putting them in the top four on the table.
Atlético-MG started the game in the best conceivable way from the first minute, regardless of the cold in Porto Alegre. Jair snatched the ball from the centre of the field, dashed forward, and passed it to Hulk. The forward then handed the ball to Nathan, who was sprinting into the area, to score the first goal of the game.
Atlético shut the door and tried to slow the game down after taking the lead.
Inter, on the other hand, began moving the ball forward more regularly in an attempt to equalize, but they were unsuccessful. Edenilson received a lovely assist from Thiago Galhardo, but the midfielder was unable to hit his target before halftime.
In an attempt to tie the score, Colorado came out firing in the second half, almost receiving a gift from Rever in the 54th minute. Thiago Galhardo had a chance to equalize after the defender sent a shabby ball back to his goalkeeper, but his effort was blocked by Guilherme Arana after he got past Everson.
Following a cross from Hulk to Allan on a counterattack in the 65th minute, Galo almost doubled their lead, but the midfielder blasted his shot hard and wide of the target.
One of the talking points of the second half was Arana’s terrific head contact with Vinicius Mello, which resulted in the 18-year-old being stretchered off the pitch after the forward was bleeding. We can only hope there was nothing overly serious to that injury.
It marks another disappointing result for Inter as they have now suffered three losses from their last four games.
Inter returns to Beira-Rio on Sunday to face Ceará. On Monday, Galo hosts Chapecoense at Mineiro.
