Coritiba secured a narrow victory over Chapecoense, winning 2-1 in the Brazilian Serie A's twenty-second round on Friday evening. The result keeps the hosts in seventh place while extending the visitors' struggles at the bottom of the table. By then, Coritiba had already weathered a storm of possession from a Chapecoense side that dominated the ball but struggled to convert it.
The opening goal came in the thirty-first minute when Tiago Coser finished clinically. A cancelled effort by Jacy in the forty-fourth minute would have given Coritiba a second, but the referee ruled it offside after VAR review. Chapecoense pulled one back late on through Tulio in stoppage time, but it was too little, too late. The visitors had been a menace all night in possession, yet the decisive moments went elsewhere.
Coritiba held just thirty-six percent of possession but created four big chances compared to Chapecoense's none. The hosts registered four shots on target with an expected goals total of 1.27, while the visitors managed only three on target despite controlling sixty-four percent of the ball. Their expected goals figure of 0.38 tells the story — plenty of possession, not enough in the final third.
Coritiba now sit on thirty-seven points from twenty-six matches, three wins clear of the relegation zone. Chapecoense remain rooted to twentieth place with seventeen points from twenty-five games, a gap that continues to widen. The hosts have hit a wall recently with four wins in their last five, but this performance suggested a side finding its rhythm at the right moment.