Dorival owns derby defeat and warns: “It’s decided on Tuesday” | OneFootball

Coach Dorival Júnior took responsibility for São Paulo’s 2-0 defeat to Palmeiras at Parque Antártica, in a match valid for the 27th round of the Brazilian Championship. With an eye on the decisive midweek clash, the manager chose to field an entirely reserve lineup.

São Paulo’s strategy, however, was disrupted by Osorio’s sending-off in the 38th minute of the first half. Despite the setback, Dorival praised the team’s performance while they were level in numbers.

“The game was taking a different direction until the sending-off. São Paulo was going toe to toe with the opponent. Regardless of the fact that we rested players, we came here to compete, and that’s what we did until the red card. I take responsibility. It was a shared decision, but the final word belongs to the coach. I’m confident in the work I’m doing,” he said.

Asked about the decision to rest the starters ahead of Tuesday’s clash against Boca Juniors in the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals, the coach defended the planning.

“I’m sure we did the right thing. We have the chance to reach a semifinal on Tuesday. We’ll face a very strong opponent, who also rested its squad and played in the Argentine Championship without any of the selected players,” he explained.

Dorival also highlighted the influence of the opponent stadium’s type of pitch on the players’ physical wear.

“We were playing on a pitch different from what we’re used to, which would have required even more recovery time. Palmeiras is already adapted to that scenario. It’s not a complaint, but an observation that supported our choice. My duty was to have the best possible team available for Tuesday,” he added.

With the negative result in the derby, São Paulo remains on 33 points and sits in the middle of the Brazilian league table. Tricolor now turns its attention to the Copa Sudamericana, where it will need to overturn Boca Juniors’ advantage — after they won the first leg at La Bombonera 1-0. The return match will be played this Tuesday (15) at 9:30 p.m. Brasília time, at Morumbi.

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