The Chapecoense wins the Serie B title in Brazil
The Chapecoense, which had guaranteed its return to the Brazilian soccer elite in recent rounds, won the Serie B title on Friday by defeating Confiança de Aracajú 3-1 and achieving only one goal advantage over América de Belo Horizonte in the final standings.
A penalty converted by Anselmo Ramón in the stoppage time, in his second goal of the night, granted the title to the team from Chapecó city, in the state of Santa Catarina (south) and which in 2016 was marked by the air tragedy in Colombia that ended with the lives of most of its squad.
The other goal of Chapecoense was scored by Pedro Perotti, while Reis discounted for the visitors.
With this victory, Chapecoense finished the tournament with 73 points and a goal difference of 21, the same score but one more goal than América, who with goals from Rodolfo and Ademir won 2-1 at home against Avaí from Florianópolis, whose only goal was scored by Getulio.
In third place in the tournament was Juventude from Caxías do Sul, who defeated Guaraní de Campinas 1-0 away with a goal by Renato Cajá.
The powerful Cruzeiro from Belo Horizonte, who said goodbye with a languid 0-0 draw in Curitiba against Paraná, finished in the middle of the table and will have to return to the second division.
Relegation to Serie C was for Figueirense from Florianópolis, Paraná - both with recent appearances in the first division - and the teams from São Paulo, Botafogo from Riberao Preto, and Oeste from Itápolis.
The accident that devastated Chapecoense occurred on November 28, 2016 when the plane in which the team was traveling to Medellín to play the final of the Copa Sudamericana crashed 17 kilometers before reaching the airport of the Colombian city of Rionegro.
In the tragedy, 71 of the 77 people on board the Bolivian Lamia airline aircraft died, including players, members of the board and coaching staff, as well as twenty journalists who accompanied the club in its first final of an international tournament.
After the incident, the rival Atlético Nacional from Medellín resigned from the dispute for the title and Chapecoense was declared champion of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana and made its debut in the Copa Libertadores de América (the maximum continental tournament) in 2018. (D)