Rafael rues São Paulo’s poor show, Grêmio on top again | OneFootball

It was another game where São Paulo started well, creating some goal opportunities, but faltered, completely lost its way when hit, and ended with another defeat in this Brasileirão, 2-0 to Grêmio, on Thursday night (16) in Rio Grande do Sul.

And it could have been much more if it weren't for the goalkeeper Rafael once again, with great saves that prevented a gaucho rout. The goalkeeper analyzed the match, saying that the Tricolor had the initial control but ended up dominated by Grêmio throughout the duel.

“We started playing well. There were 30 minutes where we had control and couldn't finish with a goal, but we had more control of the game. And then, in the last 15 minutes, they ended up having more volume, scoring the goal. And after the goal, I think their team had more volume and managed to dominate the game,” he said to the channel Premiere right after the defeat.

And then, the speech returned to being the same as so many other times by the Tricolor players throughout this season, lamenting another defeat.

“But it's to lament. Lament, there's not much to say. It's to lament for the game we played, for the opportunity we lost to score. But football is like that, and we already have another tough game away from home against Mirassol.”

“I think it's to lament, see the mistakes we made here so that we can correct them in a short time and seek points away from home against Mirassol,” evaluated Rafael, already thinking about the team's next match in this Brazilian Championship.

The Tricolor goalkeeper said that the team's main goal was victory, to climb better positions in the standings, but they failed to align with Grêmio.

“Whenever we wear the São Paulo jersey, we enter the games to win. We really wanted the three points away from home. We knew it was a very difficult game against Grêmio, but we needed to come here and score because we want to climb the table by winning,” said the goalkeeper.

The result, which is not unexpected due to the high number of absences, is still terrible for the aspirations of going to the Libertadores next year. The club has one win in the last five games, is stuck at 38 points, and could see the gap to the qualification zone for the main continental competition reach eight.

Picking up the pieces, the Tricolor will not have an easy stop in the next round: they face the surprise of the year, Mirassol, away from home, at 6:30 PM (Brasília time) on Sunday (19).

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