Bahia beat Internacional 3:2 in the Serie A regular season on Saturday night. The hosts moved up to fifth place while Internacional remained in eighteenth. It was a match decided by moments rather than sustained pressure.
Alan Patrick opened the scoring for Internacional at sixteen minutes. The Argentine forward found space in the box and finished clinically. By then, Bahia had been trying to establish their rhythm through the midfield.
Erick Pulga responded quickly with an equaliser at twenty-three minutes. He showed good positioning to meet the cross and power home a shot. And here's the thing — the momentum shifted immediately after that, the way it always does when a team finds its groove.
I remember watching the twentieth minute closely. Pulga's second goal at forty-two minutes was the turning point. He caught Internacional off guard and extended Bahia's lead. The crowd roared them on.
Erick completed his hat-trick at forty-five minutes plus four. Two yellow cards followed — Cristian Olivera for Bahia and Alexandro Bernabei for Internacional, both at thirty-nine minutes. The incident went to review, but nothing came of it.
Bahia dominated possession at fifty-six percent and created four big chances. They registered six shots on target with an expected goals figure of 2.39. Internacional managed three shots on target and had an expected goals of 1.68.
The result leaves Bahia with forty points in fifth place. Internacional sit on twenty-five points in eighteenth. The line has barely moved for both sides in the table, but the psychological weight of this match matters more than the points.
