Picking up the pieces: São Paulo prep for Flamengo, new blow at back | OneFootball

São Paulo’s squad trained on Thursday morning (23) at CT da Barra Funda and began preparations to face Flamengo next Sunday (26), at 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time), at the Maracanã, in a match valid for the 20th round of the Brazilian Championship.

The Tricolor team is trying to recover in the competition, where it has not won in six straight rounds. To make matters worse, it lost center-back Rafael Tolói for the match against the Rio side due to a thigh injury.

The squad’s return to training at the CT split the players into two groups: those who played longer in the defeat to Athletico Paranaense last Wednesday (22), in Bragança Paulista, did recovery exercises indoors, while the rest trained on the pitch with head coach Dorival Júnior and his staff.

After the warm-up, the on-field activities began with an 11-vs-11 matchup in a reduced space. Afterwards, the group carried out technical drills by position.

Before traveling to Rio de Janeiro on Saturday afternoon (25), the Tricolor will have two more days of fine-tuning in training sessions in the São Paulo capital.

Tolói becomes an absentee

Center-back Rafael Tolói underwent imaging tests on Thursday morning and was diagnosed with a strain in the back of his right thigh.

After feeling pain, the No. 2 was replaced by Osorio during the first half of the match against Athletico-PR at Cícero de Souza Marques Stadium, for the Brazilian Championship.

The defender has already begun treatment with the club’s physiotherapists and will not be available for the team’s next match against Flamengo.

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