The title race continues to get even more interesting as the Brazilian Championship draws to a close. We witnessed an upset in Goiânia as Goiás stunned third place Atlético-MG and claimed a 1-0 victory on Wednesday.
The match was important to both sides for well opposite reasons. A win for Atlético-MG would have seen them move to within two points of leaders Internacional ahead of their game against Athletico-PR.
On the path of Goiás, they remain in the relegation conversations and they need as many points as they can before the season ends to avoid the drop.
As fate would have it, luck shined on the relegation threatened side.
If you prefer to judge a game by stats, all of that pointed to an easy win for Atlético-MG. Goiás had only one win in their last six league games, losing the other five and were on a poor run of form.
With the above in mind, Galo were widely expected to win but it was just not their day.
Atlético-MG started the game brightly and even scored in the 11th minute through Savarino. However, VAR came into action again and disallowed the goal for offside by the slightest of margins.
Against the run of play, Goiás claimed an unlikely lead in the 28th minute when Índio rose highest to head them in front following a cross from Daniel de Pauli.
For emphasis, Atlético-MG had 77% of possession on the evening and a whopping 19 attempts but with only three of them on goal. Goiás only had three attempts the whole game but their solitary effort on goal proved to be the crucial winner.
The result sees different fortunes for both sides at opposite ends of the table. Should Internacional win Athletico-PR on Thursday night, Galo could find themselves eight points behind the leaders with only four games to go.
As it stands, only five points separate relegation zoned Goiás from 14th placed Vasco and they will continue to hope results go their way and they avoid the drop come the end of the season.
