For the 17th round of the 2025 Brasileirão, Santos drew 2-2 with Sport at Ilha do Retiro this Saturday (26th).
The truth is that, despite individual mistakes, Peixe showed a lot of grit to fight for, in the scenario they faced, an unlikely point in Pernambuco.
At the start of the match, goalkeeper Gabriel Brazão made a disastrous mistake while playing out from the back, and Derik Lacerda opened the scoring for Leão.
Brazão’s blunder shook the Santos team, who almost conceded a second goal before halftime.
To make matters worse, after VAR review, Tomás Rincón received a red card for a foul on Derik Lacerda, leaving Santos with one less player on the field.
After the break, Sport had a goal disallowed for offside by Ramírez, but managed to extend their lead with Lucas Lima, who made sure the “ex’s law” was in effect for the night.
But, as mentioned, with great determination, Santos went on the attack in search of an equalizer.
First, Neymar found Tiquinho Soares, who held up play and assisted Gabriel Bontempo to pull one back.
And, in the final minutes, a ball was lofted into the area, Leão’s defense cleared poorly, and João Basso smashed it home to seal the draw.
With one less player, Santos pushed for the comeback and were even upset with the final whistle.
The Sport fans prepared to hand out masks of actress Bruna Marquezine, Neymar’s ex-girlfriend, to taunt the Santos star.
The masks were even banned from the stands for supposedly compromising security.
But some still managed to get in.
If there were no masks, Neymar was still “on the minds” of the Sport fans.
With this result, Santos reached 15 points and left the relegation zone (16th place), pushing Vasco into the danger zone.
Sport, who came very close to their first win in the competition, remain at the bottom with five points.
Featured photo: Paulo Paiva/Flickr Sport Recife
