Brazilian Championship: Abel Ferreira and the Mental Game with Flamengo

The heat is on in the Brazilian Championship, folks! After Palmeiras drew away and lost the lead in the 26th round, head coach Abel Ferreira decided to get into the rival’s head, Flamengo. While he talked about the difficulty Brazilian teams have in keeping their promises away from the “big sharks” of Europe, he didn’t fail to mention that Flamengo, on paper, is a super team—with more weight behind winning titles both domestically and on the continental stage.

Responsibility Is on the Line!

Abel has already started to put pressure on the red-and-black squad in this final stretch of the season. He didn’t hold back and said:

“We could be playing with Endrick, with Estêvão, with Allan. So, when you look at the last few years, what’s been happening? Palmeiras can buy, try to buy to balance things out, but compare, for example, where the Palmeiras coach trained and where the Flamengo coach trained. Where the player who plays for Palmeiras trained, and where the Flamengo players played. So, yes, there is a team that has the obligation to do much, much more.”

In the press conference held at Nilton Santos, the coach was persistent with the idea that the “obligation” to win falls on Flamengo, not on his team. He went on to comment:

“It’s interesting that last year, we bought one or two players and everyone said: ‘with a budget, with a budget.’ Now, when it’s on the other side, we don’t see that it’s ‘required,’ that it’s ‘their obligation.’”

Numbers and Investments

In 2025, Palmeiras recorded an investment of R$ 928,9 million in players, considering economic rights, signing bonuses, and intermediary fees. By contrast, Flamengo’s spending last year was R$ 635,6 million. This season, Palmeiras brought in Jhon Arias (around R$ 155 million), as well as Marlon Freitas and Alexander Barboza. Flamengo, in turn, “countered” with the arrival of Paquetá. Until June, the red-and-black club invested R$ 495 million, and in the current window it has already added at least R$ 78 million with the signings of Anthony Valencia and Joaquín Freitas.

The Title Race!

With all these moves, Palmeiras ended up overtaken by Flamengo and is now one point behind. The draw with Botafogo highlighted the team’s difficulty in creating attacking plays. Abel alternated between direct answers and broader takes when discussing the competition’s landscape. When asked what was missing to maintain the lead, he summed up all the pressure with a simple:

“We needed to get more points than our opponent, nothing more.”

And what about the game strategy? Abel said it will be one step at a time.

“Match by match. This is a competition of consistency. It’s a marathon. It won’t finish until December and, until then, a lot can happen. One game at a time. We’re going to fight until the end to win.”

Lessons Learned and the Future!

Anderson Barros, the Palmeiras football executive, also joined the conversation, pointing out that last year’s runners-up finish served as a lesson:

“We have the learning from last year; we’re not going to make the same mistakes. There are 12 rounds left, and I believe Palmeiras has every condition to fight for this title, and they will fight until the end.”

And Palmeiras is competing on three fronts to be champions this year! This week, the Brazilian Championship takes a break because of the Libertadores, which takes place on Wednesday, when the team plays LDU at home. On Saturday, it’s time to face São Paulo again in the Brazilian Championship, and on Thursday, the draw for the Copa do Brasil for the semifinal against Vasco takes place.

Stay tuned, because this battle is only just getting started! ???