Paquetá admits he rushed into a penalty and reveals conversation

The midfielder Lucas Paqueta admitted that he rushed the first penalty taken in the 4-1 victory over Paraguay for the America Cup. He revealed the conversation with his teammates to take the second penalty, which he converted.

Error on the first one. “In the first game I had chances and didn’t score a goal. I started the second game by missing the penalty, I ended up rushing into the penalty. That ends up getting stuck in my head. But I continued to concentrate on the game, I was able to provide the assist and in the end I was crowned with the goal .”

Decision to hit again. “It’s training. In the first hit I ended up hitting differently than I train. In the second one, we talked there and in fact the one who was going to hit was Rodrygo and he said I could hit and I hit without any discussion or anything. We get along really well there.”

Bruno Guimarães explains controversial reaction after goal

For midfielder Bruno Guimarães, the penalty missed by Paquetá was key in the match due to the way the team reacted. At the moment of the goal, he explained the reason for giving so much away.

“It was right after Paquetá missed a penalty. It seemed like our moment would never come. We were persisting and the goal still wouldn’t come. When we scored the goal, it was time to let off steam with everyone. I will never disrespect any fans, we are here for them, for our country. Our intention is to bring support to us, we wanted to hear them shouting, being happy with our goal. It was a very important moment for us, of ‘phew, the first one has gone, now things will start to flow'”, he said.

The team’s number 5 at the Copa América commented on Dorival Jr’s statement stating that Brazil for the first time did not arrive as favorites for the national team tournament. Bruno revealed that this conversation was already going around the locker room and it stuck: it’s okay if favoritism belongs to others and the title goes to Brazil.

“It was a frustrating draw for us. We tried our best. There were 20 shots on goal against zero and we went into the locker room and focused on the good things that would come our way. The key point in the game this Saturday (29) was the penalty missed by Paquetá. No one lowered their heads, everyone went to support him. In the next play I found him and he assisted the goal. This shows the unity of the group. Dorival talked to us about this, if they are the favorites and we are the title, it’s perfect. We are in our moment with renewed confidence.”