São Paulo vs Palmeiras: Abel’s red card, Arias’s goal, and the Choque-Rei meltdown

A Sunday derby at Morumbi is always something else, but today’s Choque-Rei went down in history for all the wrong reasons. If you missed the live broadcast or want to relive every bit of the drama, here are the highlights of São Paulo vs Palmeiras. And make no mistake: in this case, the highlights were the most heated moments. Palmeiras’s 1-0 win, sealed by that screamer from Jhon Arias, ended up being a mere footnote compared to what went down after the final whistle.

Things were already tense during the warm-up. You could cut the tension with a knife when both teams walked out, knowing a spot in the Paulistão final was on the line. Palmeiras came out with the intent to play it safe, but São Paulo, playing at home, piled on the pressure from the start. It was a scrappy first half, with few clear-cut chances. If you followed the stats, you’d see possession was fairly even, but the real tactical foul play was being handled by the referee, who seemed to have left his whistle at home.

And in that kind of pressure cooker, anyone who knows the game could see a spark was bound to happen. That spark came in the 30th minute of the second half. Jhon Arias, already one of the best on the pitch, received the ball at the edge of the box, cut inside, and smashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner. No chance for the keeper. In that moment, the entire Morumbi felt the blow. But what no one expected was that the night still had a side show in store, starring Abel Ferreira.

The Portuguese manager, who’s no pushover anywhere, not even in the Champions League, lost his cool over a refereeing call in stoppage time. A normal complaint in a derby, but then the ref decided to go for the dramatic and showed him a red card. And then, my friend, all hell broke loose. Abel went ballistic, having to be restrained by security and his coaching staff. It was a scene straight out of an action movie. Behind the scenes, videos of the red card are already blowing up, racking up millions of views. You can clearly see the manager’s rage; according to what I’ve gathered, he didn’t even give a post-match press conference, leaving the assistant to deal with the fallout.

Meanwhile, in the dressing room, the mood was one of open warfare. I heard that defender João Martins, one of the squad’s leaders, spoke to the press and hinted that the team is even more united after this. “They tried everything to get under our skin, but we’re leaving with the win,” he apparently said, with a wry smile that said they now have the advantage. It’s this kind of behind-the-scenes drama that makes our football so captivating.

For those who only look at the cold, hard scoreline, the takeaway is Palmeiras’s narrow victory. But for those who live and breathe the sport like we do, what remains is the certainty that the second leg at the Allianz is going to be an absolute firecracker. Here’s what we can expect for the return match:

• Do-or-die atmosphere: São Paulo will have to chase the result, which will open up space for a team like Palmeiras, who thrive on the counter-attack.
• Abel Ferreira in the stands? His automatic suspension means he’ll be banned from the touchline. That could shake up the tactics for both sides.
• The referee will be under the spotlight: After what went down today, the CBF will have to assign one of their top officials to ensure things don’t spiral out of control again.

And let’s not forget that the Brasileirão 2026 Série A BCD is just around the corner, and these derbies are a true litmus test. Palmeiras showed they have the star quality to make the difference, but also that their emotions can be a liability. São Paulo, on the other hand, desperately need to find their scoring touch, because playing well but failing to find the net at home in a Choque-Rei could come back to haunt them in the points tally.

It was an ugly, scrappy game full of gamesmanship, but it’s precisely for that reason that we love this sport. If you only watched the São Paulo-Palmeiras highlights and just saw the goal and the red card, know that you missed the 90 minutes of tension that led up to those moments. Now, it’s a waiting game for the second leg. And you can bet your bottom dollar that no one out there will forget what happened this Sunday.