Two games played tonight may have decided — almost irreversibly — the Brasileirão 2025 champion. A Flamengo’s 3-0 victory over Bragantino It wasn’t just a resounding triumph: it was the opening of a four-point lead that has the look, feel and weight of a title. In the vacuum of this red-black sprint, Palmeiras stayedwhich was no more than a melancholy 0-0 against Fluminenseindoors, in front of more than forty thousand people who arrived at Allianz Parque with their nerves exposed and left with the realization that the dream of the next national championship had practically evaporated.
The math still exists, of course. Three games each. But everyone from Palmeiras is like a visitor. THE Verdão would have to win his three commitments remaining and cheer for two Flamengo defeats — a scenario that borders on the unlikely given what the two teams show today.
And all this packaged by an extra component: on the 29th, in Lima, the two will face each other in the Libertadores final in a duel that is worth the fourth American championship for both. A game that could be the synthesis of a fierce dispute throughout the year, but which this Saturday gained new dramatic layers — because, depending on the progress of the next round, Flamengo could reach the decision with the Brazilian title already in its pocket.
Frustration at Allianz
Palmeira’s frustration tonight, however, is not just numerical. It’s aesthetics. Even with all the starters, with the usual support, with the atmosphere that tends to push the team into early failures, Palmeiras didn’t have a great game. There was a lack of physical and technical imposition that, at home, almost always yields that “1-0 after 15 minutes” that changes the emotional course of any duel. THE team tried, fought, pressed in the final minutes, but stopped in the tricolor block — and in yourself.
The most uncomfortable fact is not the draw itself, but what it reveals. As incredible as it may seem, the attack that dominated months of the championship completed five and a half hours without scoring a single goal in the Brasileirão. Five and a half hours filled with defeats to Mirassol, Flamengo and Santos, and now 0-0 which sounds like the definitive signature of a team that lost the highlight of the season just when they needed it most.
Thus, the boos at the end of the match there were less protest and more recognition: in the Brasileirão, the duel with Flamengo seems lost.
Focus on Libertadores
The only thing left to do is not lose focus on what still matters — and what matters much more. On the 29th, in Lima, there is another battle, much more symbolic, much heavier, much more defining of the year. Palmeiras cannot take their creative vacuum, their drop in energy and their shaken emotional state to the Libertadores final. The Brasileirão already has an owner. Not America. And it is in this gap that the team needs to be reborn. It’s never good to forget that at these times Abel Ferreira almost always has a plan…
