Bahia was on the way in the Copa do Brasil. After drawing 1-1 in normal time and losing 4-3 to Grêmio, in Porto Alegre, in the second leg of the quarterfinals, it was up to coach Renato Paiva to explain his team’s performance in the match.
In the interview after the game, the coach praised Bahia’s performance and valued the tricolor’s campaign in the Copa do Brasil. The team was eliminated undefeated.
“First to say that I am extremely proud of this group of work and players. We played a game of great quality in a very difficult stadium, against a team that is in second place in the Brazilian Championship, it has a very varied form and difficult to contradict”, began he.
Paiva was asked about the goal that Bahia conceded in the second half. It was the third goal that Esquadrão suffered from Grêmio taking the ball from the side’s back, the coach preferred to indicate the opponent’s merit.
“We got here and we knew we were going to suffer from defensive plays, they are not always mistakes on our part. Sometimes the opponent has merit. It’s one on one, a backwards cross. I think we were good defensively for most of the game, and offensively was the part that made me most proud. Regarding the goal, it starts to be repetitive. Obviously teams have ways of attacking and others have ways of defending themselves. There is a one-on-one play in which Ferreira gets the better of Cicinho, but Ademir got the better of the Grêmio full-backs, Cauly the same thing. It’s the game. There’s a one-on-one, an imbalance, and the match becomes an imbalance in which the team has to organize itself. The team he was well positioned, he had a cross backwards. I still say that sometimes we potentialize the opponent’s goal as if it were our mistake, but they have merit “, he completed.
Renato Paiva also explained why midfielder Lucas Mugni did not take one of the penalties. Last season, the Argentine was the team’s official scout. According to the coach, the player was on the list, but the priority was on who had the best performance in training. Cicinho, Acevedo and Gabriel Xavier wasted the kicks.
“We trained on penalties, I prioritized the players who were playing. Coming in cold is not easy. Yago hits very well, he hit in front of him, but Mugni was going to hit next. But I prioritized those who hit very well these days that we trained. Interestingly, Acevedo and Cicinho, who made a mistake today, scored all the goals in training. But here it is different. We don’t take money to choose players, there is a training criterion”, he said.
Without the Copa do Brasil, Bahia now only has the Campeonato Brasileiro. This Sunday (16), the Squadron visits Athletico-PR, at 6:30 pm, at Arena da Baixada, in Curitiba. The tricolor needs to win as it has only 14 points and is two from the relegation zone.
