Rafael: Draw was fair for São Paulo, late ‘miracles’ meant nothing | OneFootball

The goalkeeper had a great performance, but couldn't prevent the Tricolor's defeat away from home in the Brasileirão (Photo: Rubens Chiri/SPFC)

MARCIO MONTEIRO

@avantmtricolor

São Paulo was brave against Cruzeiro, had more ball possession (60% x 40%), but ended up defeated 1-0 on Saturday night (30) at Mineirão, in the 22nd round of the Brasileirão.

The feeling was really that at least a draw was possible. Goalkeeper Rafael, captain for the 27th time of the Tricolor, lamented the team's adverse result in Belo Horizonte.

"The feeling whenever I leave is pride in our team. Despite the defeat, we don't like leaving the field losing, but I think we played a great game against a great team, away from home, we had our chances too, it was an even game," he analyzed as he left the field to the channel Premiere.

"In my view, I think a draw would have been the fairest result, but now we have to think about the next game, we really wanted to win here and continue our winning streak, but we left everything on the field," continued the goalkeeper.

The winning goal for Cruzeiro came from a free kick by Matheus Pereira, which deflected off the head of defender Alan Franco, leaving Rafael with no chance to save.

"I think with a deflection in the barrier they ended up winning the game, but we produced a lot and I think a draw might have been the fairest result for both teams," added the number 23.

Despite São Paulo's dominance, Rafael had to work hard, making six saves in the game, five of them from shots inside his area. He had an incredible sequence of two saves at the end.

"We work a lot daily, reaction work to be prepared at this moment. And then we made the first save, the second I confess that there we try to get up as quickly as possible and try to make the save."

"I was lucky to make the save and the ball stayed close to me. But, I'm happy to have helped the team with the saves, but sad because we were defeated and it didn't help at all," lamented São Paulo's big goalkeeper.

Now the Tricolor takes advantage of the break in the calendar for the FIFA Date to rest the tired, recover the injured, and returns to the field only on September 14 (Sunday), when they face Botafogo at Morumbi, also in the Brasileirão. The focus, however, will be on the start of the Libertadores quarter-final series against LDU.

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