Palmeiras 1-0 Botafogo (AET) | Round of 16
Goal: Paulinho (100)
A solo goal from substitute Paulinho snatched Palmeiras a hard-fought win over Botafogo and a FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ quarter-final place. Abel Ferreira’s Verdão will return to Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Friday to play the SL Benfica-Chelsea FC winners.
Palmeiras bossed the first half, but they failed to create any meaningful opportunities. Estevao began to penetrate the Botafogo backline after the restart, and he forced John into a fine save. The 18-year-old was surprisingly withdrawn less than 20 minutes into the period, but it failed to halt the Verdão’s supremacy, with Mauricio’s header producing an excellent tip-over from John.
The Botafogo No12 made a superb stop from a Richard Rios piledriver at the start of extra time, but he could do nothing to prevent Paulinho making the breakthrough. The 24-year-old faked the shot, cut inside his man and curled the ball into the bottom corner.
Gustavo Gomez was then sent off for a second yellow card, but Palmeiras withstood a series of late corners to get the win.
Quotes
“A lot of emotions… a really tough game against a really competitive team. I knew the game would cool down a little bit in extra time, that we would have to change the flow of the game. Two minutes before the goal, I said to Mayke that we needed a low shot, because the keeper was very good at our high shots. I had this opportunity and this gives me even more confidence. I’m going through a difficult moment, with my injury, I still feel the pain, but it’s another step in the Club World Cup.”
Paulinho, Palmeiras player
“Never give up, never give in. All the time, we work for this. I spoke with the players, if we play like in training, for sure the game will be better than what we did in the last game. I would like to say thank you to my players for all their efforts. We had an amazing game. I think in all 90 minutes, plus extra time, we did very well. When we needed to suffer, we suffered together with one player less. We deserve it, because we work a lot. Now we are there and we will fight until the end for our dream. So, keep going like this.”
Abel Ferreira, Palmeiras head coach to DAZN
“We tried really hard today. I’m grateful for everything we did in this competition. There are no words to say right now. We need to breathe and absorb what we did today. We tried our best. We took it to extra time. Palmeiras won it today, so I have to congratulate them.”
John, Botafogo goalkeeper
Michelob Ultra Superior Player of the Match
John (Botafogo)
