And this allows us to conclude, somewhat perplexed: Abel Ferreira did it again. In almost five years at Palmeiras, Abel experienced some moments that required remodeling. And he always managed to do something about it: making some tactical changes, appealing to motivational factors, or tweaking the team's lineup - investing in young players, for example. But it was at the beginning of 2025, with the difficulties in qualifying in the first phase of the Paulistão and the defeat to Corinthians in the final, that the process became more sensitive.

It is not usually easy to make this transition, especially in winning teams - this may be the most noticeable element of Palmeiras in recent years: the ability to maintain a highly competitive group. See the case of Botafogo this year... It would be understandable, therefore, for Palmeiras to go through a long winter until finding a competitive team, on par with previous ones. But just a handful of games was enough for the club to once again warn competitors: whoever wants to be champion will have to overcome it.

Richard Ríos has become one of the best players in the country this season, Felipe Anderson has greatly improved his performance, Facundo Torres is accelerating his adaptation - and there are still Vitor Roque and Paulinho, great reinforcements, able to strengthen the team when fully integrated (in the case of Vitor Roque) or recovered (in the case of Paulinho). However, the most important thing is that Palmeiras has become an organized, reliable team again, as shown by the 3-2 victory over Bolívar, this Thursday, in La Paz.

Even without players like Richard Ríos, Vitor Roque, Raphael Veiga, and Murilo, even with Estêvão feeling unwell due to altitude, even with Felipe Anderson on the bench, even with Paulinho not playing, Palmeiras won what tends to be their most complicated commitment in the group stage of the Libertadores. If they also beat Cerro Porteño, away from home, on May 7, they will be qualified with two rounds in advance. And there are points to improve. The sequence of victories went through the goalkeeper Weverton, decisive against Inter and Fortaleza. In the last two games, Palmeiras was more attacked than in previous games (against Corinthians and Inter, for example). This shows that it is still a team in the process of adjustments - and susceptible to fluctuations, but there are also improvements.