
Cuca tries to take Atltico back to the path of victories
Atltico’s last victory was against Botafogo, at Estádio Nilton Santos, by 1-0, for the Brazilian Championship. From there, there were two defeats (Corinthians, 2-1, at home, and Internacional, 3-0, away) and two draws (Cuiab, 1-1, away, and Palmeiras, 2-2, at home).
Of these games, Cuca was in charge of the team against Internacional and Palmeiras. The coach’s expectation now for the first victory since returning to the club. The positive result, in addition to ending the negative sequence, will give confidence to the squad for the decisive duel of the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores, against Palmeiras, next Wednesday, at 21:30, at Allianz Parque.
In the view of the right-back Mariano, Atltico is evolving in the last matches. He expects the team to get a good result against Athletico in Mineiro, but asks for patience from the stands during the 90 minutes.
“We are progressing, good changes. What I can ask the fans is a little patience. We were charged because the team lacked the intensity and quality of play. And I believe we have that again”
Bad sequel in 2019
The last time Atltico went five games without a win, the team was led by Rodrigo Santana. The alvinegro team had five consecutive defeats between September 1st and 23rd, four of them as a visitor (Corinthians, Botafogo, Coln-ARG and Ava) and one at home (Internacional).
The sequence of defeats was broken with the victory over Coln, in the second game of the Copa Sudamericana semifinal. However, Alvinegro ended up being eliminated in the penalties in Mineiro.
Since then, Galo has gone two sequences of four games without a win: one at the end of 2019, with Vagner Mancini, and another this year, with Turco Mohamed.