One of the most exciting seasons of the Brazilian league ended on Wednesday with the most stable team of the year defending their title and the club that was home to Pele relegated for the first time.
Palmeiras drew 1-1 against Cruzeiro to be crowned Brazilian champions for the 12th time.
Endrick, 18, scored his 11th goal of the season to give Palmeiras an early lead and Nikao equalized in the 80th minute at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte.
Photo: AFP
Santos’ relegation following a 2-1 home loss to Fortaleza was another setback for the club at the stadium where Pele’s funeral took place in January.
Palmeiras’ success arrived on the back of a stellar season by striker Endrick, who is set to join Real Madrid, while rivals Botafogo squandered a 13-point lead in the standings.
“People said I won this, but I wouldn’t be able to do this by myself,” Endrick told journalists after his second Brazilian league title with the team. “At the beginning of the year, I cared too much about what people said, I was angry. Later I noticed I shouldn’t do that. I aged a little.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira won his ninth title for the Sao Paulo-based club. His contract is due at the end of next year, but Brazilian media have reported he is likely to accept an offer from Qatar’s al-Sadd.
Atletico Mineiro and Flamengo, who had slim chances of winning the trophy in the last round, lost their matches. Those defeats allowed Luis Suarez’ Gremio to finish runners-up after a 3-2 win against Fluminense, with the Uruguay striker scoring two goals.
Suarez, who has been linked with a move to join close friend Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, scored in the 43rd minute and then bagged a second with a cheeky panenka from the penalty spot in the 64th minute.
Palmeiras finished with 70 points, two more than Gremio. Botafogo, who led for 31 of 38 rounds, finished in fifth with 64 points. The Rio de Janeiro club lost 3-1 against Internacional, ending the season on an 11-game winless streak.
Santos finished with 43 points, one behind Bahia, who beat Atletico Mineiro 4-1, and two less than Vasco da Gama, the winners of another tense clash against Bragantino.
Mario Sergio opened the scoring for the visitors in the 39th minute. Messias equalized in the 58th minute to give Santos hope they could put Vasco da Gama in a relegation position.
However, Juan Martin Lucero gave Fortaleza a win with a shot from near the halfway line.
The match was ended as soon as Santos fans tried to invade the pitch, forcing players to run to the locker rooms.
Police and supporters later clashed outside.
Only three years ago Palmeiras beat Santos in the Copa Libertadores final.
Atletico Mineiro’s Paulinho finished the league as the top scorer with 20 goals. Suarez and Botafogo’s Tiquinho Soares had 17 goals each.
Additional reporting by AFP
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