Palmeiras wins St. Bernard and takes Santos in the semifinals of the Paulista

Palmeiras qualified for the semifinals of the Championship late on Monday. In Stadium Palestra Italia, the alviverde team won the St. Bernard by 2-0 and secured the right to face Santos in the fight for a place at the decision of the state tournament.

With better campaign, Santos will have the advantage of field command in the semifinal before Palmeiras, to be played in a single game, still no date set and unique twists. The two clubs live fierce rivalry times, marked by the decisions of the Championship and the Brazil Cup in 2015.

In the last match of the quarterfinals, Palmeiras had work to overcome the St. Bernard and had goals from Alecsandro and Gabriel Jesus to advance. The alviverde team, under the command of Cuca technician, completed on Monday a series of six matches unbeaten (five wins and a draw).

The Game - Despite the atypical date arena received more than 30 thousand people. After 12 minutes, the referee Vinicius Furlan decided to stop the match due to ignited flags in the sector of cheerleaders. After about four minutes of stoppage, with some artifacts still lit, the judge authorized the restart of play.

The support of the Palmeiras fans did not deter the St. Bernard, who knew how to exploit the space left by the home defense team. After 18 minutes, Fernando Prass defended dangerous shot from Alyson. Seven minutes later the goalkeeper made another intervention after finishing Lucas Newiton.

Struggling to create scoring opportunities, Palmeiras opened the scoring in dead ball play after 35 minutes of the first half. Egidio free kick on the left and Alecsandro used his head to complete. He paid tribute to the father Lela, former football player in celebration.

Lawn Stadium Palestra Italia, used for musical performances in March and April, has not yet recovered. Pieces of the field have dropped in some moments of the match and athletes like Fernando Prass and Alecsandro embedded fragments back.

Palmeiras went better for the second time and scared after just eight minutes, with far kick shot by Allione. The next minute, Gabriel Jesus came down the left and crossed for Robinho , who lost time and beat up the dial. Shortly after, the midfielder was replaced by Dudu.

After 19 minutes, goalkeeper Fernando Prass had to leave the feet of Tatá to kill the attack of St. Bernard on the left. Thinking about strengthening palmeirense marking, Cuca put the steering wheel rested Gabriel in place of Arouca. Then promoted the attacker's debut Roger Guedes to exchange it for Alecsandro.

Positioned to explore the counterattacks, Palmeiras closed the scoring five minutes before the end of regulation time. Dudu moved forward with the ball and dominated triggered Roger Guedes on the right. The newly signed striker Gabriel crossed and Jesus turned to the back of the goalkeeper Daniel networks.

DATASHEET

PALM TREES 2 X 0 SAINT BERNARD

Date: April 18, 2016, Monday

Location: Stadium Palestra Italia in São Paulo-SP

Time: 21 hours (GMT)

Referee: Vinicius Furlan

Assistants: Alberto Poletto trough and Eduardo Vequi Marciano

Public: 30,731 gifts

Income: R $ 1,759,380.50

Yellow cards: Gabriel Jesus (PAL); João Francisco, Eduardo, Tata and Luciano Castan (SBR)

GOALS:

PALM TREES: Alecsandro, 35 minutes time 1, and Gabriel Jesus, after 41 minutes the 2nd time

PALM TREES: Fernando Prass; Jean, Thiago Martins, Victor Hugo and Egidio; Matheus Sales, Arouca (Gabriel), Robinho (Dudu) and Allione; Gabriel Jesus and Alecsandro (Roger Guedes)

Coach: Cuca

SAN BERNARDO: Daniel Lucas Newiton, João Francisco, Luciano Castan and Eduardo; Marino, Felipe Matthew (Tata), Cañete and Alyson (Tulio); Walterson and Henan (Jefferson Kanu)

Coach: Sérgio Soares