Announced as the starter for his first home match, Dimitri Payet had to wait until the hour mark to set foot on the pitch at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro. White collar raised, Cantona style, face concentrated, number 10 was aware of the stakes when he replaced Marlon Gomes (60th).
At that moment, his Vasco da Gama team had not yet managed to get rid of the Fluminense coached by Fernando Diniz, the same one who was on the Seleçao bench a few days earlier. Despite Praxedes opening the score, following a nice cross from Rossi (1-0, 22nd), Marcelo’s team was indeed the most dangerous. But she repeatedly came up against the former Lille goalkeeper, Leo Jardim (18th, 20th) or his post (45th).
From the restart, it was precisely the former Real Madrid full-back, untenable, who equalized by placing a nice shot under the bar (1-1, 46th). But the Argentinian Vegetti gave Vasco the advantage again from a corner (2-1, 49th) before being caught on a nice move between Guga and Lima (2-2, 50th) in the heart of the area.
Ten minutes later, Roman Dias could launch “Paid”, as they say in Brazil. The influence of the former Marseillais was not initially obvious. He didn’t touch a lot of the ball, but he played fair, intelligently, and showed his class in the final moments. He did not need to do so on the 3-2 goal when the Fluminense defense let Gabriel Pec stand alone against Fabio (3-2, 73rd).
On the other hand, it was the Frenchman who launched a counterattack concluded by a delivery from Vegetti for Gabriel Pec, again, who had not scored for two months and who could offer his team a primordial success in the struggle to maintain.
With 20 points on the clock, Vasco remains 18th in the Brasileirão but comes back 5 lengths behind Goias, first non-relegation, with a match in hand to play against America, the 19th. All hopes are therefore high for Payet who has been undefeated since wearing the “Cruz Maltino” jersey.
After 45 minutes against Bahia (1-1), he will have played 30 minutes, in an electric derby, made 5 passes (out of 8), won 6 duels and hit just over (79th). Enough to already become one of the darlings of Vasco which will return to its lair of São Januãrio, Thursday, against the Coritiba of Slimani and Jesé.
2023-09-16 21:55:32
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