A three point gap with the relegation zone saved Coritiba back in 2016, but a dramatic sequence of events one year later destroyed Coritiba's confidence and hope. It was a tragedy for the fans to say the least as Coritiba seemed on the right track to prevent the drop to the second tier again. Marcelo Oliveira, who took over from Pachequinho during the season, managed to record some decent results during the second half of the season, but it all went wrong near the very end for this club.
A disastrous run of three defeats in the last three matches sealed the deal, but that wasn't all. The last match against Chapecoense resulted in the relegation, which was rather unexpected. The visitors even took the lead in Chapeco when Kleber provided the early goal, but the hosts levelled the score before the break again. The match was heading for the 1-1 final score, which would have been enough for Coritiba to prevent the relegation, but Tulio de Melo's goal in the 90th minute destroyed the positive atmosphere instead.
It will be extremely tough for Coritiba to deal with this. A large amount of players will leave the club as a result and bouncing back to the Serie A won't be an easy mission at all with that in mind. Dodo for instance, one of the promising youngsters, already left the club to play for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine and more players will follow this example.
