Santos suffer humiliating defeat to Ponte Preta and leaves Paulista

It’s a big story for Ponte Preta so far. From almost eliminated, they now find themselves in the last four and one step away from the finals. A come-back display in Vila Belmiro puts them two steps away from the Paulista title. Ponte Preta started with a strong intent to open the scoring early on. Bruno Rodrigues hit the crossbar with a header. Santos […]
2020-07-31 16:25:30

It’s a big story for Ponte Preta so far. From almost eliminated, they now find themselves in the last four and one step away from the finals. A come-back display in Vila Belmiro puts them two steps away from the Paulista title.

Ponte Preta started with a strong intent to open the scoring early on. Bruno Rodrigues hit the crossbar with a header. Santos replied perfectly by scoring the opening goal of the game. After only five minutesMarinho connected with a header after a good cross from Soltedo and made the breakthrough. Twenty minutes later, Soltedo almost got a goal of his own but goalkeeper Ivan was equal to the task.

The game took a different turn after goal-scorer Marinho was given a red card off for leaving his arm divided with the opponent.

The second half started with Ponte Preta putting the red card to good use. In the 50th minute, Bruno Rodrigues leveled the game when he found space in the Santos box. It was a bad night for the Pexie goalkeeper. Eleven minutes later, Vladimir rebounded a shot at Moses who in turn fired home. It marked the turnaround for Prenta. With two minutes until the end of the game, Joao Paul put the game beyond doubt and scored the third goal for Prenta.

Santos failed to show any sort of reaction and fell victim to another disappointing defeat.

The result means Ponte Preta will face Palmeiras in the semifinals, at the Alviverde Arena next Sunday  at 19h.