São Paulo beat Bahia, reignite hopes for Libertadores qualification | OneFootball

It was likely the farewell night of the year at Morumbi, since the club will now have a whole month of concerts held at its home. And São Paulo didn’t want to disappoint its fans after a string of letdowns.

On Saturday night (25th), rediscovering the good football that had been missing for a while, Tricolor delivered a masterful first half to secure the 2-0 needed to seal their return to victory, precisely against Bahia, the team of eternal idol Rogério Ceni and one of their rivals in the fight for a spot in the next edition of the Copa Libertadores.

Practically speaking, bouncing back in the Brazilian Championship was more than necessary, especially against a direct competitor in the only objective left for the season. And for that, coach Hernán Crespo innovated, theoretically fielding an unprecedented attacking duo with Lucas and Luciano.

We say “theoretically” because, in practice, São Paulo attacked again with a block of five men in their offensive line. The novelty was the tactical positioning. In addition to wingbacks Enzo Díaz (back from injury) and Maik, Lucas, Luciano, and a surprising Marcos Antônio formed a line of three, rotating as needed to see who would push forward and become the reference man to finish off plays.

It was such an unusual movement that it seemed to catch Ceni off guard. And Tricolor didn’t take long to find their goal. Just six minutes in, after a play by Maik down the right, Luciano took advantage of the pass to strike first-time and open the scoring, netting his 100th goal for the Morumbi club.

Was that goal enough to calm the nerves that had been running high? More or less, because in practice (again), Bahia exploited São Paulo’s only visible weakness up to that point: defensive recovery when losing the ball. On two occasions, they almost scored (on the first, Arboleda tackled Nestor; on the second, Jean Lucas missed an incredible chance one-on-one with Rafael).

A problem Crespo didn’t hesitate to fix. With a solution more practical than elaborate. He swapped Marcos Antônio with Bobadilla. Done. The number 20, quicker and with better vision, put an end to the surprise the Paraguayan had been providing, somewhat lost with Pablo Maia in the first challenge. And the second goal came on a silver platter.

At 40 minutes, Luciano received a chipped ball from Pablo Maia and backheeled it to Bobadilla, now the other surprise man in attack, who struck firmly to extend the lead.

Job done for us, as Bahia completely collapsed with Ceni watching two of his three halftime substitutions become useless as the players left the field injured.

In the second half, a picture of dominance: São Paulo “cooking the cassava” against a harmless, stunned, and battered Bahia, with no power to react. It was just a matter of watching the time go by. And taking the opportunity to pay well-deserved tribute to president Julio Casares in the stands.

The victory ‘stops the bleeding’ and leaves Tricolor with 41 points, five behind Botafogo, currently sixth in the table and the last team qualifying for the Libertadores.

The team returns to the field now on Sunday of the following week (11/2), against Vasco da Gama, away from home, at 8:30 p.m. (Brasília time), in yet another match that has become a direct clash for the remaining objective of the year.

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