Raphael Veiga opened the scoring, Eduardo Brock equalized, and Willian gave the home team victory in the second half. A talking point of the game was the reunion of goalkeeper Fernando Prass with his former club, where he is an idol. Palmeiras continues to follow closely behind leader Atlético-MG.
Palmeiras started the game the much better side and it was no surprise they opened the scoring early.
With two fast open players, Ron and Wesley, Verdão had depth and reached the goal after nine minutes, when Wesley invaded the area, hit the post, and Raphael Veiga took advantage of the rebound to make it 1 to 0. It wasn’t long until Ceará got their equalizer.
A better play from the away side forced Palmeiras into some mistakes and Charles and ended up giving a corner to Vozão. The resulting corner led to the goal with Eduardo Brock leveling matters in the 18th minute. The first half ended that way.
Palmeiras came out better once again in the second half but failed to create a clear-cut goal-scoring chance. Just when it looked like it was going to be a draw, Willian grabbed the winner in the 82nd minute and won it for Palmeiras.
The victory takes Palmeiras to 22 points, the same number as Internacional, but with one game less (Atlético-MG, leader with 24, still plays in the round). Ceará follows in the middle of the table, with 14 points and in 12th place.
Palmeiras will face Botafogo next Wednesday at Nilton Santos. On Thursday, Ceará will go to Arena da Baixada to face Athletico-PR. Both games are valid for the 14th round of the Brazilian Championship.
