Morelos scores, Santos thrashes Guarani in Vila and resumes the lead in Serie B

Santos continues with 100% success in Series B of the Brazilian Championship. This Monday, Peixe beat Guarani 4-1, in Vila Belmiro, in the third round of the tournament. The home team’s goals came from Guilherme, Diego Pituca, Morelos and Giuliano. Caio Dantas discounted.

The stadium’s gates were closed once again. Alvinegro Praiano is punished by the STJD for the confusion that marked their relegation at the end of last year. There are three games with completely empty stands and three more with partial attendance. This was the second suspension clash.

With the result, coach Fábio Carille’s team resumed the lead in the Second Division, with nine points, as did Sport. São Paulo have an advantage on goal difference. Bugre remains in 19th, still at zero.

Santos returns to the field next Saturday, at 5 pm (Brasília time), against Amazonas, at Arena Amazônia, in the fourth round of Series B. At the same time, Guarani hosts Botafogo-SP.

The game
Needing to react in the championship, Guarani tried to impose itself at the beginning of the match. With less than a minute, Camacho was free in the half-moon and shot at João Paulo’s defense. Afterwards, Luan Dias tried to surprise with a free kick and hit the net from above.

Santos reacted to seven. Guilherme dominated on the left side of the area, cut to the middle and hit firmly. The ball deflected off the mark and went over. Moments later, the attacker received a good cross from Otero and headed wide.

With the clock showing 21 minutes, Luan Dias had a golden chance to put the visitors ahead. The midfielder, who played for Peixe recently, was left behind after a corner and dropped a bomb, face to face with João Paulo. The ball exploded off the crossbar and went out.

And the wasted opportunity ended up being costly. That’s because, at 31, Guilherme received a sweet pass from Giuliano and crossed the ball to put Alvinegro Praiano ahead.

And it didn’t take long for the second one to come out. Eight minutes later, Diego Pituca dominated with freedom in the middle and hit with great precision to score a beautiful goal. At 43, Gil still scored the third. The defender’s goal, however, was disallowed for offside after a VAR review. The check lasted about five minutes.

2nd half

After the break, Santos continued to look for more. With four minutes in, JP Chermont took a risk from very far away and forced Douglas Borges to palm the ball for a corner.

At nine, nothing stopped the third. Morelos dominated the area, made the wall and served to Pituca, who hit the ball in the middle of the goal. The goalkeeper, however, returned it to Morelos, who only had the trouble of sending it into the back of the net.

Already in the 17th minute, Santos turned the victory into a rout. After a long pass exchange, Giuliano activated Guilherme and received it back in the middle of the area. The midfielder then kicked the ball to score the fourth.

Guarani managed to score at 28. Pituca brought down Chay in the area and the referee awarded a penalty. On the charge, Caio Dantas hit the corner.

From then on, Santos only controlled the advantage to secure three more points in Series B.

DATASHEET
SANTOS 4 X 1 GUARANI

Local: Vila Belmiro, in Santos (SP)
Date: May 6, 2024, Monday
Time: 9pm (Brasília time)
Referee: Paulo Belence Alves dos Prazeres Filho (PE)
Assistants: Fabrício Vilarinho da Silva (GO) and Karla Renata Cavalcanti de Santana (PE)
VAR: Rodrigo Nunes de Sá (RJ)
Yellow cards: Escobar (Santos)

GOALS: Guilherme, at 31 in the 1st Q, Diego Pituca, at 39 in the 1st Q, Morelos, at 9 in the 2nd Q, Giuliano, at 17 in the 2nd Q (Santos); Caio Dantas, at 28 in the 2nd Quarter (Guarani)

SAINTS: João Paulo; JP Chermont, Gil. Joaquim and Escobar (Hayner); João Schmidt (Rincón), Diego Pituca and Giuliano (Cazares); Otero (Patrick), Morelos (Willian) and Guilherme
Technician: Fábio Carille

GUARANI: Douglas Borges; Léo Santos (Kayque), Douglas Bacelar and Lucas Adell; Diogo Mateus (Heitor), Camacho, Matheus Bueno, Luan Dias (Chay) and Jefferson; Airton (Marlon Douglas) and Caio Dantas
Technician: Junior Rocha