2018 Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Season

Along with the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the club also competed in the Campeonato Mineiro, the Copa do Brasil and the Copa Libertadores.

Cruzeiro

2018 season
President	Wagner Pires de Sá
Manager	Mano Menezes
Stadium	Mineirão
Série A	8th
Campeonato Mineiro	Winners
Copa do Brasil	Winners
Copa Libertadores	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: De Arrascaeta (6) All: De Arrascaeta (15) Thiago Neves (15)
Highest home attendance	56,791 vs Boca Juniors (4 October, Copa Libertadores)
Lowest home attendance	4,036 vs Vitória (21 November, Série A)
Average home league attendance	19,373
Biggest win	7–0 vs Universidad de Chile (26 April, Copa Libertadores)
Biggest defeat	2–4 vs Racing (27 February, Copa Libertadores)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2017 2019 →

On 17 October, Cruzeiro won their 6th Copa do Brasil title after defeating Corinthians 2–1 at Arena Corinthians, becoming the biggest champions of the tournament history and the first to win it twice in a row.

Competitions

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Campeonato Mineiro	17 January 2018	8 April 2018	Matchday 1	Winners	16	13	2	1	28	6	+22	081.25
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A	14 April 2018	2 December 2018	Round 1	8th	38	14	11	13	34	34	+0	036.84
Copa do Brasil	16 May 2018	17 October 2018	Round of 16	Winners	8	5	2	1	10	6	+4	062.50
Copa Libertadores	27 February 2018	4 October 2018	Group stage	Quarter-finals	10	4	3	3	18	9	+9	040.00
Total					72	36	18	18	90	55	+35	050.00

Source: Competitions

Campeonato Mineiro

First stage

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Cruzeiro	11	9	2	0	20	2	+18	29	Knockout stage
2	América Mineiro	11	6	3	2	14	8	+6	21
3	Atlético Mineiro	11	5	3	3	14	7	+7	18
4	Tupi	11	5	1	5	19	16	+3	16
5	Tombense	11	4	3	4	8	7	+1	15

Updated to match(es) played on 18 January 2018. Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) goals scored; 5) head-to-head results; 6) least red cards received; 7) least yellow cards received; 8) draw.

Cruzeiro v Tupi

17 January 1	Cruzeiro	2–0	Tupi	Belo Horizonte
21:45 UTC−3	Robinho   53' Rafinha   60'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 42,484 Referee: Murilo Francisco Misson Júnior

Caldense v Cruzeiro

20 January 2	Caldense	0–0	Cruzeiro	Poços de Caldas
21:30 UTC−3		Report		Stadium: Ronaldão Attendance: 4,431 Referee: Igor Júnio Benevenuto

Cruzeiro v Uberlândia

24 January 3	Cruzeiro	4–0	Uberlândia	Belo Horizonte
21:45 UTC−3	Rafael Estevam   59' (og.) Thiago Neves   42' Rafinha   79', 84'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 25,242 Referee: Emerson de Almeida Ferreira

Tombense v Cruzeiro

27 January 4	Tombense	1–2	Cruzeiro	Ipatinga
19:00 UTC−3	Daniel Amorim   45'	Report	Fred   51' Rafinha   75'	Stadium: Ipatingão Attendance: 14,751 Referee: Cleisson Veloso Pereira

Cruzeiro v América Mineiro

4 February 5	Cruzeiro	1–0	América Mineiro	Belo Horizonte
17:00 UTC−3	De Arrascaeta   68'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 50,794 Referee: Wanderson Alves de Souza

Democrata GV v Cruzeiro

9 February 6	Democrata GV	0–2	Cruzeiro	Governador Valadares
21:30 UTC−3		Report	Mancuello   16' Marcelo Hermes   77'	Stadium: Mamudão Attendance: 8,238 Referee: Antonio Márcio Teixeira da Silva

Cruzeiro v Villa Nova

17 February 7	Cruzeiro	1–0	Villa Nova	Belo Horizonte
16:30 UTC−3	Rafinha   30'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 31,705 Referee: Felipe Fernandes de Lima

Cruzeiro v Boa Esporte

24 February 8	Cruzeiro	3–0	Boa Esporte	Belo Horizonte
16:30 UTC−3	Rafael Sóbis   2', 86' Mancuello   39'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 17,671 Referee: Marco Aurélio Augusto Fazekas Ferreira

Atlético Mineiro v Cruzeiro

4 March 9	Atlético Mineiro	0–1	Cruzeiro	Belo Horizonte
11:00 UTC−3		Report	Raniel   47'	Stadium: Independência Attendance: 22,196 Referee: Cleisson Veloso Pereira

Cruzeiro v URT

7 March 10	Cruzeiro	3–0	URT	Belo Horizonte
21:45 UTC−3	Rafael Sóbis   18' De Arrascaeta   23' Thiago Neves   41'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 22,962 Referee: Ronei Cândido Alves

Patrocinense v Cruzeiro

11 March 11	Patrocinense	1–1	Cruzeiro	Patrocínio
17:00 UTC−3	Genesis   84'	Report	Rafael Marques   71'	Stadium: Pedro Alves do Nascimento Attendance: 6,471 Referee: Emerson de Almeida Ferreira

Knockout phase

Quarter-final

Cruzeiro v Patrocinense

17 March	Cruzeiro	2–0	Patrocinense	Belo Horizonte
16:00 UTC−3	Raniel   52', 64'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 16,603 Referee: Ronei Cândido Alves

Semi-finals

Tupi v Cruzeiro

21 March First leg	Tupi	0–1	Cruzeiro	Juiz de Fora
21:45 UTC−3		Report	Ariel Cabral   46'	Stadium: Mário Helênio Attendance: 8,238 Referee: Wanderson Alves de Souza

Cruzeiro v Tupi

25 March Second leg	Cruzeiro	2–1 (3–1 agg.)	Tupi	Belo Horizonte
19:00 UTC−3	Thiago Neves   16', 80'	Report	João Vitor   19'	Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 48,566 Referee: Wagner do Nascimento Magalhães

Final

Atlético Mineiro v Cruzeiro

1 April First leg	Atlético Mineiro	3–1	Cruzeiro	Belo Horizonte
16:00 UTC−3	Ricardo Oliveira   36', 45' Adílson   41'	Report	De Arrascaeta   83'	Stadium: Independência Attendance: 21,215 Referee: Dewson Fernando Freitas da Silva

Cruzeiro v Atlético Mineiro

8 April Second leg	Cruzeiro	2–0 (3–3 agg.)	Atlético Mineiro	Belo Horizonte
16:00 UTC−3	De Arrascaeta   3' Thiago Neves   52'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 49,906 Referee: Luiz Flávio de Oliveira
Note: Cruzeiro won the title with a draw on aggregate for being the best placed team in the first round.

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
6	Atlético Mineiro	38	17	8	13	56	43	+13	59	Qualification for Copa Libertadores second stage
7	Atlético Paranaense	38	16	9	13	54	37	+17	57	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
8	Cruzeiro	38	14	11	13	34	34	0	53	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
9	Botafogo	38	13	12	13	38	46	−8	51	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
10	Santos	38	13	11	14	46	40	+6	50

Source: CBF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) goals scored; 5) head-to-head results; 6) least red cards received; 7) least yellow cards received; 8) draw.
Notes:

Results by round

Matches

Cruzeiro v Botafogo

6 May 4	Cruzeiro	1–0	Botafogo	Belo Horizonte
16:00 UTC−3	Dedé   71'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 20,908 Referee: Leandro Bizzio Marinho

Botafogo v Cruzeiro

5 September 23	Botafogo	1–1	Cruzeiro	Rio de Janeiro
19:30 UTC−3	Luiz Fernando   10'	Report	Edilson   37'	Stadium: Engenhão Attendance: 5,779 Referee: Raphael Claus

Copa do Brasil

As Cruzeiro participated in the 2018 Copa Libertadores, the club entered the Copa do Brasil in the round of 16, whose draw was held on 20 April.

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Copa Libertadores

The group stage draw for the 2018 Copa Libertadores was made on 20 December 2017. Cruzeiro were drawn into Group E with Universidad de Chile, Racing and Vasco da Gama.

Group stage

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CRU	RAC	VAS	UCH
1	Cruzeiro	6	3	2	1	15	5	+10	11	Round of 16		—	2–1	0–0	7–0
2	Racing	6	3	2	1	12	6	+6	11			4–2	—	4–0	1–0
3	Vasco da Gama	6	1	2	3	3	10	−7	5	Copa Sudamericana		0–4	1–1	—	0–1
4	Universidad de Chile	6	1	2	3	2	11	−9	5			0–0	1–1	0–2	—

Racing   v   Cruzeiro

27 February 1	Racing	4–2	Cruzeiro	Buenos Aires, Argentina
21:30 UTC−4	Lautaro Martínez   14', 45', 63' Solari   77'	Report	De Arrascaeta   30' Robinho   70'	Stadium: El Cilindro Attendance: 35,920 Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)

Cruzeiro   v   Vasco da Gama

4 April 2	Cruzeiro	0–0	Vasco da Gama	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
21:45 UTC−3		Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 38,019 Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)

Universidad de Chile   v   Cruzeiro

19 April 3	Universidad de Chile	0–0	Cruzeiro	Santiago, Chile
21:30 UTC−5		Report		Stadium: Estadio Nacional Attendance: 45,084 Referee: Víctor Hugo Carrillo (Peru)

Cruzeiro   v   Universidad de Chile

26 April 4	Cruzeiro	7–0	Universidad de Chile	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
19:15 UTC−4	Thiago Neves   10', 75' Rafinha   18' Sassá   44' (pen.), 62' De Arrascaeta   54' Rafael Sóbis   81'	Report		Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 34,147 Referee: Roddy Zambrano (Ecuador)

Vasco da Gama   v   Cruzeiro

2 May 5	Vasco da Gama	0–4	Cruzeiro	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
21:45 UTC−3		Report	Léo   10' Thiago Neves   25' Sassá   33', 55'	Stadium: São Januário Attendance: 12,973 Referee: Anderson Daronco (Brazil)

Cruzeiro   v   Racing

22 May 6	Cruzeiro	2–1	Racing	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
21:30 UTC−3	Thiago Neves   3' Lucas Silva   11'	Report	Centurión   28'	Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 43,276 Referee: Andrés Rojas (Colombia)

Knockout stage

The draw for the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores was held on 4 June.

Round of 16

Flamengo   v   Cruzeiro

8 August First leg	Flamengo	0–2	Cruzeiro	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
21:45 UTC−4		Report	De Arrascaeta   10' Thiago Neves   78'	Stadium: Maracanã Attendance: 45,967 Referee: Néstor Pitana (Argentina)

Cruzeiro   v   Flamengo

29 August Second leg	Cruzeiro	0–1 (2–1 agg.)	Flamengo	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
21:45 UTC−3		Report	Léo Duarte   70'	Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 52,706 Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

Quarter-finals

Boca Juniors   v   Cruzeiro

19 September First leg	Boca Juniors	2–0	Cruzeiro	Buenos Aires, Argentina
21:45 UTC−4	Zárate   36' Pablo Pérez   82'	Report		Stadium: La Bombonera Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Eber Aquino (Paraguay)

Cruzeiro   v   Boca Juniors

4 October Second leg	Cruzeiro	1–1 (1–3 agg.)	Boca Juniors	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
21:45 UTC−3	Sassá   58'	Report	Pavón   90+4'	Stadium: Mineirão Attendance: 56,791 Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

References