In the press conference held in the Itaquerão press room, coach Zé Ricardo discussed the match and praised the team's performance. Playing against an unbeaten team in the competition, they knew how to chase the result and could have come away with the win. The coach felt the draw was important given the teams' standings in the standings, and the gap to the leader could still be narrowed. Zé Ricardo also discussed goalkeeper Diego Alves' debut. Check out the main points from the interview below.

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Play against Corinthians in Itaquera

We see all the aspects you see in a competitive team at Corinthians. They're very well-coached by Fabio Carille, who deserves congratulations for his work, and this further enhances the value of our match today, because we were so close to defeating them. 

After having their goal disallowed, Corinthians came out swinging, fueled by the fans and their quality, and managed to have a good run. These are two great teams, and it was a high-quality match. Corinthians, playing at home, is very strong, and we didn't want to stray from our hallmarks of having the ball in our attacking half. This was evident in the second half. 

Frustration

For us, not only for the mathematical aspect, which would be very important, but also for the symbolism of beating Corinthians at Itaquera Stadium. We were very close to winning the match; we hit the post, and Diego had a chance. These were crucial moments, but we faced a great team, and we have to take what was good from the match and move on to the rest of the competition. Nothing is decided. The gap is large, but our fight is to fight for the top of the table and the title.

We have to look ahead, but always with our focus on the next match. We're in knockout tournaments, and the results are crucial to maintaining our strong performance in the Brazilian Championship and gaining momentum in the World Cup. We're not prioritizing any one competition and will pursue titles in all three. With our squad and the players coming in, we can't help but believe in titles. 

I didn't see the match highlights. I don't talk much about refereeing, and when Flamengo was penalized, I didn't say much either. I think all teams were favored and disadvantaged on many occasions. Whether this play was wrongly disallowed or not, I haven't seen yet, but that doesn't erase our performance. Few teams will come here to Itaquera and perform like we did. 

It was a positive debut. He's a national team-caliber athlete who brings a wealth of experience. It's important to have a player with those characteristics. In such a grueling season, it's important to have someone with his experience.