Calleri: penalty felt 100kg, feared repeat, Boca tie ‘special’ | OneFootball

Calleri scored one of the goals, from the penalty spot, in São Paulo’s 3-1 win over Bolívar on Tuesday night (18), which secured qualification for the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the first half, Tricolor conceded the equalizer, haunting Morumbi, which was already fearing the same negative script from the team’s recent matches. And Calleri thought the same.

“It felt like the same story repeating itself for the tenth time. When I looked at the clock, it was fifteen, twenty-something. I said, once again we play a good first half, score a goal, and in the second half, once again, of course, they want to score to get level, so they keep pushing more and more, and Asprilla scores a beautiful goal from outside the box, right into the top corner. And once again it felt like the same story,” the No. 9 told ESPN after the match.

“But we talked a lot during the week about what could happen if they scored. We kept playing more and more on the front foot. We got a penalty that I hadn’t seen. And the penalty felt like it weighed a hundred kilos.”

“But everyone gave me the confidence to take it and, luckily, I was able to score. Then Sabino scored the goal that sealed qualification, and we’re going home happy, just like the fans who came to support us on a weekday, on a Tuesday night, 40,000, 44,000 people, with the team having gone six games without a win.”

“So we have to congratulate everyone, applaud the fans who came today. Luckily, the fans got to take a win home. We had to grab hold of qualification with everything because it’s the only competition where we can fight to be champions, and today I think, despite some difficulties, we played a good game, in quotation marks, and we got the win,” the Argentine striker concluded.

The next Sudamericana stage now brings a clash of giants: São Paulo vs. Boca Juniors. The Argentines thrashed Recoleta and will be Tricolor’s opponents in the quarterfinals of the South American competition, a team Calleri played for in his home country.

“I’m a São Paulo fan, I’ve lived this story for ten years and I’m very happy here. I renewed for two more years and I hope to stay as long as possible, because this is my home. But it’s a special match for me, I’m going back to La Bombonera after 11 or 10 years. And it’s going to be a very special game, I think my whole family will be there.”

“I have many friends who are surely already sending messages. But we’re going there to fight and try to win, then come back here and decide the tie. We know it’s a very difficult game and we have a very good team with a great coach. And we’re going to do everything we can to qualify,” Calleri said.

The Sudamericana quarterfinal matches against Boca are scheduled for September 9 and 16. Because they had the better campaign, São Paulo is expected to play the second leg at Morumbi. Before that, however, the club turns its attention back to the Brazilian Championship, where it also needs to show a reaction: it faces Chapecoense at 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time) on Sunday (23), away from home.

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