Analysis: Strike duo is Palmeiras’ brightest prospect for 2025 | OneFootball

The Palmeiras fan who attended the Allianz Parque this Monday (25th) witnessed the best news for Palmeiras this year in action. Verdão defeated Sport 3-0 with goals from Flaco López (2) and Gustavo Gómez. The Argentine’s goals featured contributions from Vitor Roque, with whom he has been forming a striking partnership in recent matches.

On the field, their effectiveness is clear. Roque is the explosive player who accelerates, dribbles, and creates opportunities, while Flaco López shows intelligence and finishing ability, making the most of every pass and space left by opposing defenses. The combination of the two allows Palmeiras to vary their attack, sometimes exploiting individual plays, sometimes quick one-twos inside the box, making the team unpredictable and even using crosses as a ‘trump card’ rather than a dependency.

The most recent match perfectly exemplifies this. From the first to the last dangerous play, the duo was present: from Flaco López’s goal after Roque’s pass, to the crosses and one-twos that almost resulted in more goals.

A game that makes this evident is the match against Botafogo, in which Palmeiras won 1-0 at Nilton Santos. Even with only Roque involved in the goal, the duo in that game made the change in Verdão’s play style clear. With Vitor opening up on the side and Flaco closing through the middle, and when both draw the defense, opening space for the midfielders to break into the attack.

For Palmeiras, the emergence of this offensive partnership represents more than just goals: it’s the possibility of regaining the creative consistency the team had been lacking. For the fans, seeing Roque and López play together is exciting, considering that signing a number nine had been a long-standing wish, and now seeing two performing—and together—really excites the supporters, who have already nicknamed the duo Bebeto and Romário.

WHAT NOW?

Palmeiras visits Corinthians on Sunday (31st) at Neo Quimica Arena for the Brasileirão.

Upcoming Palmeiras matches

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.