São Paulo FC vs. SE Palmeiras full match

Information

• Lineups
• Comments

The São Paulo vs. Palmeiras derby, one of the most traditional in Brazilian football, is known as "O Choque Rei" ("The King Clash") and this match is a historical one. São Paulo was the leader of the tournament and was one of the most praised teams in Brazil back then. The Tricolor featured Rogério Ceni (the greatest São Paulo player of all time), a young Kaká (the top Brazilian prospect at the time), França (tied with Botafogo's Dodô in the top goalscorer race of the Rio-SP with 14 goals and one of the best strikers in Brazil in the early 2000s, even being seriously considered to play in the 2002 World Cup, but an injury abruptly ended his dream), Belletti (a reserve member in the 2002 WC squad and a future starter at FC Barcelona in the "Ronaldinho Era") and good players like Souza (played for the Seleção in the mid 1990s), Maldonado (a starter for the Chile National Team through most of the 2000s), Gustavo Nery (played for the Seleção in the mid 2000s), Emerson (played 3 matches for the Seleção in 2000), Fábio Simplício and Reinaldo. Palmeiras had a less talented team (at least theoretically), but still featured great names like Marcos (the starter for the Seleção in the 2002 World Cup), Paraguayan legend Arce (one of the best South American players in the 1990s), Alex (an iconic player for Coritiba, Palmeiras, Cruzeiro and Fenerbahçe, the MVP, Bola de Ouro, of the 2003 Brazilian National Championship and arguably one of the best Brazilian players that never played a World Cup), Christian (one of the most dangerous goalscorers in the late 1990s in Brazil, he was idolized by the Internacional fans, they nicknamed him Jesus Christian and he even played for the Seleção in the Vanderlei Luxemburgo era) and good players like Paulo Assunção, Magrão (played for the Seleção in the mid 2000s) and César (was a Seleção member in the 1999 Copa América and 1999 and 2001 Confederations Cups) as their highlights. São Paulo had the best attack in the tournament and the Alviverde was 3rd in this statistic, even though the team, apparently, played a defensive-minded game, since Luxemburgo used to play with 3 defensive midfielders. This match would decide the leader of this Rio-SP, with the Tricolor do Morumbi just needing a tie, since the team had the best goal differential.