Philadelphia, June 29 (IANS) A solo goal from substitute Paulinho snatched Palmeiras a hard-fought 1-0 win over Botafogo and a FIFA Club World Cup 2025 quarterfinal place.

Palmeiras bossed the first half, but they failed to create any meaningful opportunities. Estevao began to penetrate the Botafogo backline after the restart, and he forced John into a fine save.

The 18-year-old was surprisingly withdrawn less than 20 minutes into the period, but it failed to halt the Verdão’s supremacy, with Mauricio’s header producing an excellent tip-over from John.

The Botafogo No12 made a superb stop from a Richard Rios piledriver at the start of extra time, but he could do nothing to prevent Paulinho making the breakthrough. The 24-year-old faked the shot, cut inside his man and curled the ball into the bottom corner. reports FIFA.

Gustavo Gomez was then sent off for a second yellow card, but Palmeiras withstood a series of late corners to get the win.

Twenty-three corners were taken. It was the most in a game this tournament, eclipsing the 22 in Auckland City FC-CA Boca Juniors.

“Never give up, never give in. All the time, we work for this. I spoke with the players, if we play like in training, for sure the game will be better than what we did in the last game. I would like to say thank you to my players for all their efforts. We had an amazing game.

“I think in all 90 minutes, plus extra time, we did very well. When we needed to suffer, we suffered together with one player less. We deserve it, because we work a lot. Now we are there and we will fight until the end for our dream. So, keep going like this.” Abel Ferreira, Palmeiras head coach.

–IANS

bc/