I don't perform miracles. Without training, it's difficult.
No coração de uma temporada já marcada pela pandemia, Abel Ferreira enfrentou sua primeira derrota no comando do Palmeiras não como um fracasso tático, mas como o resultado inevitável de uma crise coletiva — COVID-19, lesões e suspensões esvaziando o elenco até seus limites. O treinador português, herdeiro de um clube em permanente estado de emergência, aceitou a responsabilidade sem abandonar a lucidez: há problemas que nenhum esquema resolve, apenas a resiliência de quem continua de pé. A derrota para o Goiás foi, nesse sentido, menos uma queda e mais um espelho do tempo em que vivemos.
- O Palmeiras chegou ao jogo contra o Goiás com o elenco devastado — COVID-19, lesões e suspensões forçaram Abel Ferreira a improvisar posições e convocar jogadores sem ritmo de treino.
- Ramires, punido dias antes por comparecer a uma festa sem máscara durante a pandemia, foi reintegrado ao time titular por pura necessidade — o meio-campo estava sem opções.
- Dentro de campo, o acúmulo de adversidades foi implacável: Luiz Adriano se lesionou durante a partida, Mayke foi expulso, e o Palmeiras terminou o jogo com dez homens.
- Abel recusou o papel de milagreiro: 'Sem treinar, é difícil', disse sobre os jogadores em recuperação, sinalizando que a Copa Libertadores contra o Delfín seria disputada com quem restasse em condições de viajar.
- O técnico evitou opinar sobre a paralisação do campeonato diante da onda de contágios, delegando a decisão a especialistas — mas o silêncio revelava o tamanho do impasse em que se encontrava.
Abel Ferreira sentou-se diante das câmeras após a primeira derrota do Palmeiras sob seu comando e não escondeu a frustração. O revés para o Goiás não havia nascido de falhas táticas, mas de um elenco corroído por ausências: COVID-19, lesões e suspensões haviam deixado o treinador português com pouquíssimas peças para montar o quebra-cabeça.
A situação de Ramires resumia bem o estado de emergência do clube. O meia havia sido punido e afastado temporariamente após ser flagrado em uma festa sem máscara. Dias depois, com Felipe Melo, Danilo e Raphael Veiga todos indisponíveis, Ferreira não teve escolha senão reintegrá-lo ao time. 'Ramires errou, pagou, e por isso está à disposição', explicou o treinador, sem disfarçar a contradição. 'É uma posição onde temos pouquíssimas opções.'
O jogo em si começou bem para o Palmeiras, com chances criadas nos primeiros segundos. Mas a partida foi se desmontando: Luiz Adriano saiu lesionado, Mayke foi expulso, e o time terminou com dez jogadores. No segundo tempo, o Goiás pouco criou — até que um chute de longe, de trinta ou quarenta metros, entrou. 'Foi um grande gol', admitiu Ferreira. O Palmeiras teve suas chances, mas não converteu.
Com a Copa Libertadores às portas — um duelo contra o Delfín no Equador —, o técnico foi direto sobre as perspectivas: 'Não faço milagres. Gabriel chegou hoje. Fabrício não treinou com o grupo.' A mensagem era clara: o time viajaria com quem estivesse em condições de jogar.
Ferreira recusou opinar sobre uma eventual paralisação do campeonato diante dos casos de COVID-19, deixando a decisão para quem tivesse competência para tomá-la. Era uma esquiva cuidadosa, mas também honesta — ele estava ali para resolver o que podia, não para decidir o que estava além do seu alcance. E assim seguiria: adaptando, improvisando, e levando ao campo quem ainda estivesse de pé.
Abel Ferreira sat down after Palmeiras' first loss under his command, and the frustration was visible. The team had fallen to Goiás on Saturday, a defeat that stung not because of tactical failure but because of the sheer number of bodies missing from the lineup. COVID-19 had swept through the squad. Injuries had piled up. Suspensions hung over certain players. What remained was a roster so thin that Ferreira had been forced to improvise positions, field young players with minimal experience, and call back a midfielder who'd been disciplined just days earlier for attending a party without a mask.
Ramires, that midfielder, had paid a fine and faced temporary exile from the squad after being caught at the gathering. But with the midfield decimated—Felipe Melo injured, Danilo sidelined, Raphael Veiga unavailable—Ferreira had no choice but to restore him to the starting eleven against Goiás. The coach didn't shy from the contradiction. "Ramires made a mistake, he paid for it, and because of that he's available to the team," Ferreira explained. "The team needed him. It's a position where we have very few options." The Portuguese manager's tone carried the weight of someone managing a crisis, not a football club.
The absences extended beyond the midfield. Luiz Adriano suffered an injury during the match itself. Mayke was sent off. Gabriel Menino and Luan, both recovering from COVID-19, had only just returned to training or arrived at the stadium that day. Ferreira was asked about their potential contribution in the Copa Libertadores, where Palmeiras faced Delfín in Ecuador just days later for a quarterfinal first leg. His response was blunt: "I don't perform miracles. Without training, it's difficult. Gabriel arrived today. Fabrício hasn't trained with the team." The implication was clear—he was doing what he could with what remained.
When pressed on whether the Brazilian league should pause given the spike in infected players, Ferreira declined to take a position. "I'm not a doctor. I can't offer an opinion on that," he said. "We should leave that decision to people with the competence to make it." It was a careful deflection, but it also underscored the bind he was in: managing a team in the middle of a pandemic, with decisions about competition schedules made by others, while he simply had to field whoever was available.
On the match itself, Ferreira believed Palmeiras deserved better. The team had started brightly, creating two scoring chances in the opening ten seconds. Then came the cascade of setbacks—Luiz Adriano's injury, Mayke's red card. Down to ten men, Palmeiras had to become "extremely intelligent," as Ferreira put it. In the second half, Goiás created almost nothing, save for a long-range strike from thirty or forty meters that found the net. "It was a great goal," Ferreira acknowledged. Palmeiras had chances of their own but couldn't convert them. "I said we wouldn't win every time," he concluded. "One day this would happen."
What hung in the air was not despair but determination mixed with resignation. Ferreira had inherited a club mid-season, mid-crisis, and was now operating in a state of permanent triage. The problems weren't going away. COVID-19 would continue to circulate. Injuries would keep coming. But he would keep solving them, keep adapting, keep fielding whatever team he could assemble. The Copa Libertadores awaited in Ecuador, and Palmeiras would have to go with whoever was fit enough to travel.
Citas Notables
We've had many problems since I arrived. We've had to find solutions and we still have to keep solving problems because they're still there. But we'll try to do the best we can with what we have available.— Abel Ferreira
It's difficult to play every three days, not have players available, improvise positions. It's difficult.— Abel Ferreira
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
When you say you don't perform miracles, what's the actual constraint you're hitting? Is it fitness, or something else?
It's both. A player who's been sick with COVID needs time to rebuild his aerobic capacity. You can't just put him on the field and expect him to run ninety minutes. And if he's only just arrived at the stadium, there's no time to even understand what the team is doing tactically. You're asking him to play blind.
So the Ramires decision—bringing back a player you'd just disciplined—that was pure necessity, not forgiveness?
Exactly. He made a mistake, he faced consequences, but the consequence doesn't erase the fact that the midfield is broken. You either field him or you field a seventeen-year-old who's never played at this level. Those are the choices.
Did Ferreira seem angry about the loss, or more resigned?
Neither, really. He seemed tired. He kept saying "I accept responsibility," but there was an edge underneath it—a kind of exhaustion with having to explain why a team can't function when half its players are unavailable.
What does he do if the Copa Libertadores match comes and key players still aren't ready?
He fields whoever is ready. That's the only option. Palmeiras can't postpone. The tournament doesn't care about COVID or injuries. You go to Ecuador with what you have.