Casares: São Paulo v Inter at Vila Belmiro, no protest fears | OneFootball

The president of São Paulo, Julio Casares, explained the reason for reversing his decision and deciding to move the match against Internacional, for the penultimate round of the Brazilian Championship, to Vila Belmiro, after having sent a letter to the CBF for the match to take place at Morumbi.

In the political backstage of the Tricolor, there was a version circulating that Casares had decided to take the game against Inter to Vila Belmiro out of fear of protests from the fans, who were furious with the team's poor performance. However, the São Paulo president denied any fear regarding popular demonstrations.

“In this episode, out of our own desire, we wanted to play the last game at Morumbi, but the timing, the climate, the collective decision advised us to say the following: we will not have a sufficient quality pitch, better or equal to Vila Belmiro. São Paulo is suffering so much from injuries… our expectation is to preserve the athlete in a more acute phase. So, we had to take a step back, but it is not because of the protest, even because I understand the protest as something normal,” said Julio Casares during the CBF Academy Summit in São Paulo.

“I am a leader, I understand and I am also frustrated with the year. There was a protest the other day with the utmost tranquility. I just think that at this moment we had to decide and it was done collectively. A narrative is created that I also understand, I am very experienced in this, I understand the objectives, the way, etc… but I am calm because Vila Belmiro has a good pitch, it is a place we worked on before to be able to use in an emergency. It was a set of changes to the schedule, after the climate, two shows on the weekend with a large audience, where the pitch would have a huge risk of not being in good condition. This collective, in a technical decision, instructed, recommended, that we do this,” he added.

Ranked eighth in the Brazilian Championship, with 48 points, São Paulo still dreams of a spot in the Pre-Libertadores. For this, the team will have to finish in the current position it occupies in the table and hope for Cruzeiro or Fluminense to win the Copa do Brasil so that the G7, the group that guarantees qualification for the continental tournament, becomes G8.

Precisely because there is still a Libertadores spot at stake, the fans were not satisfied with the change of the match against Internacional to Vila Belmiro, since the team is more accustomed to Morumbi and the atmosphere in the stadium could help the team achieve its goal.

The match against Internacional, by the way, is São Paulo's last home game of the season. This Thursday, the Tricolor visits Fluminense at Maracanã. Then, it hosts Colorado at Vila Belmiro on December 3, and closes the season on December 7, against Vitória, at Barradão.

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