Bombshell: São Paulo may loan Morumbi to Santos, face Corinthians at Vila | OneFootball

The boards of São Paulo and Santos have begun discussions about once again lending each other their stadiums, as happened last year. This is despite president Harry Massis having firmly insisted internally, when he took over from Julio Casares, that the Morumbi club would not play at Vila Belmiro again.

According to what AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR has learned, the reasons are the same. São Paulo is looking for a venue to play in when Morumbi is occupied by concerts. And Santos wants a place to play in the capital and make money from ticket sales (this year, for example, it played in Itaquera after Tricolor refused to rent out its home stadium).

So far, so good. The problem that is likely to infuriate São Paulo fans is that the match São Paulo is expected to play on the coast is precisely the second-round Brasileirão derby against another rival, Corinthians.

São Paulo will play at Morumbi again against Coritiba at 9 p.m. (Brasília time) on the 15th (Saturday). Right after the restart of the country’s main competition, it had to play in Bragança Paulista (SP) in a defeat to Athletico-PR because of three concerts by British singer Harry Styles.

Now, the club is set to be displaced from its home again at the end of October for three performances by South Korean k-pop group BTS. The last of them is scheduled for the 31st. And the derby against the team from the east side is set for November 4.

In other words, there would be no way to have Morumbi in full condition.

Speaking to the report, sources from São Paulo’s top brass said that a series of alternatives were considered, such as Brinco de Ouro and Ribeirão Preto. But because of logistics and head coach Dorival Júnior’s approval, Vila seemed to be the best option.

The club is studying whether to sacrifice its other two final home matches in the Brasileirão (against Fluminense and Remo, both in November) in order to fully renovate Morumbi’s pitch once and for all. It will depend, of course, on the team’s situation in the league by then.

Last year, because of the concerts at its home stadium, São Paulo played four times as the home team at Santos’s stadium. Altogether, there have been six matches in its history as the home team at Vila. Curiously, the match against Corinthians would not be the first derby there, since in 1936, when Tricolor still did not have a stadium, it faced Santos there despite having home advantage.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.