Crespo hails São Paulo’s response after heavy loss: “Not again” | OneFootball

Coach Hernán Crespo praised the attitude of the São Paulo squad after the 3-0 victory over Internacional, this Wednesday, at Vila Belmiro, in the penultimate round of the Brazilian Championship.

The tricolor team responded to the fans after the humiliating 6-0 defeat to Fluminense at Maracanã, and the Argentine coach valued the turnaround of his players.

“I think regardless of what will happen in the last round, we need one point to secure eighth place. I think this group has shown once again that they always want to compete. Except for a few exceptions, since we arrived, the team has competed well, tried to compete. We managed to compete almost always, with some exceptions related to the squad. When we didn't compete, it was because we didn't have a sufficient squad for the Brasileirão,” said Crespo.

For Wednesday's game, São Paulo's coach had the return of five players: Luciano, Arboleda, Ferreirinha, Rafael, and Sabino. Four of them were starters, while the other was brought in during the game. The result was a much more efficient and aware team with the ball at their feet.

“At the end of the day, São Paulo is competitive. The problem was that many times we couldn't have a squad, quantity. It's impossible like that. Very difficult. But it happened. I think my choice to return was positive because we came back, the goal was completely different. If you look, with all due respect, at Internacional and Santos, if we hadn't changed the mentality, at this moment we would be alongside Internacional and Santos,” Crespo continued, admitting he was deeply affected by the number of absences due to injury.

“Today we are fighting for a spot in the Pre-Libertadores. With work, with all the difficulties we went through, it was very nice. It's not enough for São Paulo, São Paulo is much bigger than an eighth place, but it's important to understand the present of São Paulo, with everything that happened, thinking about a spot in the Pre-Libertadores is very nice,” he added.

Even with all the absences throughout the season and especially in this final stretch of the year, which culminated in the defeat to Fluminense, São Paulo did not lower their guard, which made coach Hernán Crespo very proud. Even with the protests from the fans before this Wednesday's match, the players were not shaken and managed to turn things around.

“The fans have the possibility to express themselves, and we have to work for the fans to be happy. If the fans are happy, everyone is happy. We need to recover players, a difficult night can happen, but it cannot be repeated. At a high level, it can happen. For me, it can never happen again. I hope to have the possibility to choose healthy players,” he concluded.

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