São Paulo get a break to regroup and heal wounds after Paulista exit | OneFootball

São Paulo lost to Palmeiras 2-1 last Sunday night at Arena Barueri, bidding farewell to the Campeonato Paulista in the semifinals. Despite the frustration of elimination, the Tricolor will have an important break in the schedule to breathe and "heal the wound," as coach Hernán Crespo put it.

The São Paulo team will have about 11 days until the next match. The squad was given a day off on Monday and will fully return on Thursday afternoon. On Tuesday and Wednesday, players undergoing recovery will go to the SuperCT to continue their respective treatments.

"We must always look at the glass half full. We will have these days to regain strength, energy, to heal the wound. And continue. We know we have a sequence with Chapecoense, Bragantino, Atlético-MG, and Palmeiras again, to prepare before the FIFA date. In the Brasileirão, we are doing well, the idea is to continue. Believe in the work we do every day and try to let the sadness pass, knowing that we did very important work and recovered many players in this competition," Crespo evaluated.

São Paulo will now return to the field only on the next March 12th, a Thursday, when they face Chapecoense, for the fifth round of the Brazilian Championship.

After the elimination, the squad will need to gather strength again to ensure that the fall in the State Championship does not affect their good phase in Serie A. However, the group has already shown that they can unite more than ever for São Paulo, as they did by keeping the club away from the threat of relegation and even taking it to the quarterfinals of the Paulista.

"That moment was different. At that time, we had problems inside and outside [the field]. Inside, we didn't have recovered players, and outside, I don't want to talk, everyone already knows. But inside, we had the uncertainty of knowing if many seriously injured players would return well. We tried to give them playing time and were waiting for them to return, and now they have returned. We will give a little rest to the mind and the physical part," commented the coach.

What to take away as positive?

In Hernán Crespo's view, São Paulo can take positive things from the campaign in the Paulistão. The main one is the recovery of important players, such as Calleri and Lucas, who are gaining more minutes and regaining their ideal rhythm. Last Sunday, André Silva also returned to play after almost seven months out.

For executive Rui Costa, São Paulo cannot give up on processes that were consolidated during the State Championship campaign. The Tricolor, for example, was on an unbeaten streak of eight matches before the defeat to Palmeiras, but avoided using the positive streak as a shield.

"The unbeaten run, one day, would end. It ended today, in a hard way, against an opponent we always want to overcome, in a competition we really wanted to win. It is a reality check that cannot serve to lower our guard or reduce our effort, commitment. That's what we talked about in the locker room, the president spoke, Hernán spoke, I spoke. In this moment of pain and frustration, we have to recognize what is being done correctly and what we need to improve," stated the director.

"We made mistakes at some moments of the game, but the work has been developed, it has been done competently. That's what makes us believe that today's pain can put us on a path to achieving something important this year," he concluded.

It is worth remembering that São Paulo is still fighting for three titles this season: the Brazilian Championship, the Copa do Brasil, and the Copa Sudamericana.

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