The captain, Felipe Melo will have a year with more matches and fewer cards for Palmeiras

Felipe Melo has become Palmeiras’ absolute captain this season and has everything to wear the armband again on Sunday (31st), at 4pm (GMT), against Grêmio, away from home in the 29th round of the Brazilian Championship.

Champion in victory over Sport on Monday (25), the defensive midfielder ended a streak without scoring since July last year. On the other hand, if the goal returned only in the last round, Felipe was making his best season in a Palmeiras shirt. There are 52 matches, 39 of which are starters. On 31 occasions he was captain, a number much higher than Gustavo Gomez, the holder of the belt in 14 matches, and second in the category.

With an uncertain future, the 30th jersey has ample chances of surpassing the 2018 mark and ending the year with the most matches for the club since its arrival in 2017. In the year of Dec, Felipe Melo has run the field 58 times and it’s six to match the mark. Verdau has 11 additional commitments a year – ten in the Brazilian national team and another in the Libertadores.

While he could finish the season with a record of matches played, Felipe Melo also has the lowest average number of cards received, at 0.27 per game. There are 14 matches in 52 matches. To get an idea of ​​the disciplinary difference, three years ago there were 29 warnings in 58 chances (0.5 average).

The best version of Captain still faces another final challenge, coming in November. Responsible for lifting the cup for America alongside Gomez, he has already lifted four cups for Alverde, participating in the Florida Cup Friendlies in his résumé, as well as Paulista, Copa do Brasil and Libertadores.

In positive numbers, Felipe Melo leads Palmeiras in Rio Grande do Sul to maintain vice leadership in Brazil and continue the momentum after three straight wins at Nacional.