In the eleventh round of the Brazilian Serie A, Ceara will take on the lead at home this weekend against league-leader Palmeiras. The visitors are of course favorite, but seem to be forced to rotate due to their busy playing calendar.
Ceara:
Just like last year, Ceara must once again go all out to avoid relegation. With a provisional fourteenth place, the team still manages to stay outside of the danger zone, although the differences between them after ten rounds are still extremely small. A new victory would therefore be very welcome.
Ceara is certainly not doing badly. In the night from Monday to Tuesday, the club from Fortaleza was close to its fourth victory of the season, were it not for substitute Mateus Gonzalves to see an apparently pure goal rejected after intervention by the VAR. “Absurd,” said trainer Enderson Moreira. Ceara is so angry about this that it has even filed an official complaint against referee Douglas Marques. In my opinion, that is somewhat exaggerated, although Ceara again demonstrated to Fluminense that it can stand its ground against the traditional Brazilian superpowers. Especially goalkeeper Diogo Silva is in the shape of his life. Also against Fluminense he again had several nice saves.
Palmeiras:
Palmeiras takes the lead in the Brazilian Serie A after ten rounds, but the Sao Paulo club has had a bad week. After last weekend in the always-loaded city derby against Sao Paulo, after a 1-1 draw, the team was eliminated in the night of Wednesday to Thursday after penalties by Internacional in the quarterfinals of the Copa do Brasil.
Palmeiras does not have much time to lick her wounds. The away match against Ceara is waiting for this weekend, and a few days later the first match against the Argentinian Godoy Cruz is scheduled in the eighth finals of the Copa Libertadores. The Copa Libertadores is South America’s most important club tournament, so it is expected that Scolari will give various key players a rest this weekend. In addition, midfielder Moises is said to be close to a lucrative transition to the Chinese Shandong Luneng. Who will be at the kick-off this weekend is still unclear, but that will therefore probably not be the strongest team imaginable.
PREDICTION: Palmeiras to win @ 1,85
