1‑0 against Montevideo City Torque, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Maurício was at the centre of the description.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Palmeiras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samuel Alves has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Márcio Fernandes has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Isaac Nicolas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Palmeiras will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vitor Roque signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Palmeiras. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
51 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Palmeiras heard it as anything else.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Piquerez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Murilo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say José Manuel López is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until José Manuel López signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
3‑1 against Montevideo City Torque, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Vitor Roque was at the centre of the description.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Palmeiras have 7 straight wins of it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A brace, and Vitor Roque takes the afternoon — 9.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vitor Roque provided it, and the 9.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vitor Roque has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.27, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
47 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Gustavo Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Naves was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Palmeiras will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Palmeiras hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ramón Sosa commits to Palmeiras for another 4 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Palmeiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Piquerez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jhon Arias is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Isaac Nicolas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vitor Roque signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Palmeiras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Palmeiras heard it as anything else.
Jhon Arias and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Palmeiras will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Palmeiras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Paulinho was one of the reasons people came, and $38.1M does not replace that by itself.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Gustavo Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Palmeiras will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joaquín Piquerez signs something — a contract at Palmeiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Palmeiras have lost him in all but the paperwork.
An average of 7.27 in a first team he is several years too young for. Palmeiras have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Palmeiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Piquerez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Guilherme Nogueira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ludogorets had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Palmeiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Piquerez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Paulinho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Palmeiras ran out of time with Flamengo. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jhon Arias is on it.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Palmeiras will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruzeiro have kept their man, and Palmeiras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Palmeiras offered $1.4M; Cruzeiro said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
$5.5M was the most the club would pay and Flamengo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Léo Pereira has just signed for Palmeiras, and for once the answer mattered.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Palmeiras have gone to Cruzeiro with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Palmeiras asked and Bahia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Vitor Roque was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Vitor Roque, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.34
A mark of 9.34 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruzeiro have kept their man, and Palmeiras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$6.2M was the most the club would pay and Fluminense were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luiz Fernando is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.24, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
In brief
MatchAnother one collected away from home
Player ratingsPaulinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
Two goals and a mark of 9.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Palmeiras offered $8.9M; Sport Recife said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Palmeiras asked and Flamengo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Vitor Roque, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Palmeiras had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Palmeiras asked and Cruzeiro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Vitor Roque, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.74
A mark of 8.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Palmeiras have gone to Sport Recife with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
3‑0 against Penarol, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
Two goals and a mark of 8.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.39 for the rest of it.
Marked 7.01 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Palmeiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Piquerez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Palmeiras know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Paulinho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Palmeiras will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mateus Peixoto, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Palmeiras told José Manuel López something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
4‑0 against Carabobo, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Position 2, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vitor Roque did not need any: 8.36, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Palmeiras heard it as anything else.
Vitor Roque and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paulinho and Palmeiras agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Palmeiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Piquerez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Internacional will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Palmeiras were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Jhon Arias was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.93 beside his name.
9.75. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gustavo Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
1‑0 against Carabobo, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Marlon Freitas was at the centre of the description.
Match23 Oct 2026
Marlon Freitas wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Marlon Freitas found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Carabobo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Marlon Freitas scored, was marked 7.80, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Marked 9.74 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Palmeiras know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Gustavo Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Alexander Barboza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlos Miguel commits to Palmeiras for another 5 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Gustavo Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
8.63. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
2‑0 against Millonarios, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Vitor Roque, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. José Manuel López is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Successful dribbles: 41. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. José Manuel López provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vitor Roque did not need any: 8.53, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Palmeiras and Mirassol, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Piquerez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alexander Barboza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Agustín Giay has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
5‑1 against Penarol, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Palmeiras and Penarol, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Palmeiras and a story that will outlast his contract.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Luis Arthur has agreed terms with Boa for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fluminense will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Renê has pre-agreed a move to Palmeiras, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Paulinho wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Paulinho found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Flamengo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Paulinho provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Piquerez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Palmeiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Corinthians on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vitor Roque did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.81 for the rest of it.
Alexander Barboza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Palmeiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Gómez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 47. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Palmeiras and Boa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Paulinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.53. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Piquerez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Palmeiras hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Alexander Barboza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Heittor has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Palmeiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Evangelista is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Vitor Roque takes the afternoon — 9.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vitor Roque provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Nothing signed, nothing denied, and a lot of people suddenly very careful about their wording. Supporters who have been through one of these know the quiet part lasts months.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Jhon Arias was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Agustín Giay has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.