São Paulo: Crespo may use three at the back, rest Lucas v Palmeiras | OneFootball

The São Paulo squad returned to training this Thursday (22nd) at the Barra Funda Training Center, focusing on their next commitment in the Paulista Championship: the derby against Palmeiras, valid for the fifth round, at 6:30 PM (Brasília time) on Saturday (24th), in Barueri (SP).

This morning's return divided the players into two groups: those who played longer in the match against Portuguesa did recovery exercises indoors, while the rest trained on the pitch alongside young players from Cotia.

The on-field activities included the presence of midfielder Luan: the midfielder, who has been going through the transition process in recent days after an injury to his right adductor, participated in most of the training with his teammates, in addition to some extra physical work with the fitness staff.

The training on the field began with a warm-up, which consisted of a physical circuit and a ball exercise in a reduced space.

Next, the coaching staff formed four teams of seven versus seven, who faced each other alternately.

This Friday (23rd), the Tricolor’s first team will finish preparing for the derby.

After resting some key players from the starting lineup in the defeat to Portuguesa, the tendency is for coach Hernán Crespo to field the so-called ‘full strength’ squad against the rival.

The main doubt is Lucas, who has been playing a continuous sequence of matches and, since the game will be played on artificial turf, may be rested from the starting eleven.

One possible new addition is Enzo Díaz. The left-back has recovered from surgery performed last year, was included in the squad for the first time this season in the match against Lusa, and appears to have regained his best physical shape.

There is also the possibility that Crespo will return to the three-center-back formation, which was used so often last year but was abandoned this season after the defeat in the Paulistão opener against Mirassol.

A probable São Paulo lineup could be Rafael; Alan Franco (Ferraresi), Arboleda and Sabino (Dória); Maik, Danielzinho, Bobadilla (Pablo Maia), Marcos Antônio and Wendell (Enzo Díaz); Luciano (Lucca) and Calleri (Tapia).

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