Pentagon Pursuit | Part 33 | Pipoca Wins NxGn

Athlético Paranaense came into 2038 armed with an exciting arsenal of young talents like strikers Pipoca and Esdras, winger Paulo Roberto Aal and Brazil international Lucas Pena Barcelos. Manager Robaato Rasamu was excited about the club’s future, while questioning how quickly these youngsters could reach the level capable of leading the club to continental glory.

The 2038 campaign began with Flamengo offering Rasamu their vacant managerial role, which the manager couldn’t accept given they won Copa Libertadores three years ago. So he was fully focused on the upcoming two league campaigns and more continental football.

Seeking A 3rd Campeonato Paranaense Domination

Going into his third Paranaense Campeonato 1XBET campaign, Rasamu was still yet to taste defeat in the competition. Claudio Saavedra’s goal and two assists inspired a 3-0 opening day victory over rivals Coritiba, a Série B side who are the second best team in the league, which took them 43 games unbeaten. And even with a backup 11 they strolled to a third consecutive title.

Qualifying For Libertadores

Paranaense’s 5th-place finish took them into the second round of qualifying for Copa Libertadores. They eased past Colombian side Tolima thanks to right back Nicolás Monserrat’s brace equalling his goal tally of the last two seasons and leading a 5-1 away thumping before an easy 1-0 home win. They took on Chilean side O’Higgins next and Saavedra was the main source of inspiration as he created the opener for Pipoca and scored the other in 2-0 home victory. An equally straightforward away leg saw midfielder Fábio and Pipoca earn another 2-0 win to reach the group stage.

Fluminense went into Group A to again play Peruvian side Alianza Lima, Argentines Lanús and fellow countrymen Fluminense. They began at home to Alianza and did so poorly as the referee awarded a dubious penalty. But good play by Saavedra teed up Peruvian striker Abel Aguilar for an immediate equaliser before the striker returned the compliment 22 minutes later. They dominated the game and the in-form Saavedra’s delicious finish from the edge of the area killed it off before a late own goal.

Next was a trip to Lanús where they started much better with two superb flowing moves that started with goalkeeper Guilherme de Moraes and ended with Aguilar firing home from close range. Lanús came back into the game but Barcelos’ delicious strike saw them off.

A big game at home to Fluminense began with Fábio’s great goal as they dominated the first half but, of course, concede the only shot on target. Aal came off the bench to create a goal for Aguilar before Pipoca was gifted a third and Esdras’ late double, both created by attacker Rafinha on his return from a nine-month cruciate layoff, wrapped up a really impressive 5-1 win. Rasamu was delighted with what he believed was their best performance in his near-three years at the club, as they racked up 26 shots and 3.17 xG and bossed the game with 57% possession.

They were nearly as good at Maracana as Saavedra, Pipoca and holding midfielder Lucas Vinicius’ first senior goal sealed a 3-1 win that wrapped up qualification. The trip to Peru saw a pretty tame first half in which the only highlight was Aal finishing nicely from a tight angle. He was at the heart of things after the break too, sending in a looping cross that flummoxed the keeper for Esdras to convert an open goal before killing the game off with a late fourth to secure top spot.

That allowed Rasamu to fully rotate at home to Lanús and winger Augusto Barros gained a creditable 1-1, which amusingly helped Lanús qualify ahead of Fluminense. Now what they needed was a nicer draw and they potentially got it against Gimnasia, who are currently 2nd behind River in Argentina.

Chaotic Start To Série A

The ruthless nature of Brazilian football saw Paranaense thrown straight into a chaotic schedule of Série A fixtures, with nine league games in a month to the end of May and nine more through June in amongst a mass of cup games. In other words, they had to play half of their league campaign over just 62 days with three players, Monserrat, Saavedra and Pena Barcelos, going to the World Cup from late May.

Flamengo, who spent £53m in the summer, remain favourites at 13/8 followed by holders Palmeiras at 6/1 with Paranaense tipped to finish 5th with odds of 13/1. Paranaense began with a strong display and the same result as the final game of last season, beating Vasco 5-2 at home led by an Aguilar brace. The only blemish in their first seven games was a 2-1 defeat at Fluminense before hosting leaders Palmeiras. Paranaense started poorly but were gifted a lifeline by an own goal. Rasamu gave them a telling off that got the desired result as winger Carlos Eduardo, whose form has dropped off significantly this season, fired them in front. And that was enough for a huge but pretty undeserved victory.

They backed that up with Pipoca’s brace earning a 2-0 win over Avaí to go top of Série A for one of the first times in Rasamu’s reign. But that seemingly went to the players’ heads as the schedule began to catch up with them in a tough run of games through June, which began with a 1-1 at Corinthians before a Rafinha double in a 3-2 win over 4th-place Goianiense, the annual hammering at Flamengo, a 2-2 with Gremio, a humbling 3-0 loss at home to Santos then a 3-1 loss at Atlético Mineiro.

That left Paranaense sitting in 3rd just three points behind Palmeiras with two games in hand. They’d performed really well so far but Rasamu was concerned by a mass drop-off in form that’s seen only one player average over a 7.00 in the last five games.

Pipoca Claims NxGn

A sign of just how good Paranaense’s youngsters were was Pipoca winning NxGn 2038. Fellow striker Esdras was 5th and future signing Roameth Merino, who joins from Envigado in July, was 12th.