São Paulo score early, but Botafogo hit late, winless run reaches 8 | OneFootball

The fans who were willing to brave the rain and cold that hung over Morumbi on Saturday night (23) experienced a real déjà vu. Just as happened midweek against Millonarios in the Copa Sudamericana, São Paulo started the match steamrolling the opponent. But their performance dropped drastically in the second half, and once again they suffered a painful equalizer in the closing minutes. That after holding on as best they could and seeing the refereeing disallow two Botafogo goals. A 1-1 draw in the 17th round of the Brazilian Championship, leaving the bitter taste of defeat. Whether because of the risk of ending the round outside the G-4, or because of the blow of Luciano and Sabino’s injuries.

And as if things weren’t bad enough, Tricolor’s troubling drought goes on: they have now gone eight matches without knowing what a win feels like.

The clash had a decisive feel for São Paulo, since the team had managed to stay in the Copa Libertadores qualification zone even amid this pitiful run, more because of their rivals’ lack of ability than anything else. With the draw, the club reaches 25 points and remains in fourth place. A combination of results, however, could drop the team as low as eighth.

The weather conditions gave Tricolor a nice helping hand right in the opening play. It had rained so much before kickoff that Morumbi’s drainage system couldn’t cope. Staff members were pushing water off the field with squeegees to help it drain up until the match began.

São Paulo seemed to have taken note of that, and so, in the 3rd minute, Artur struck from outside the box, the ball skipped off the grass and fooled goalkeeper Neto, who spilled it and gifted the rebound, kindly and affectionately, to Luciano, completely unmarked, to tap into the net.

The early goal seemed to leave the visitors stunned. And São Paulo, needing a positive result, took advantage. Well, partly… For the next 45 minutes, Tricolor set the pace of the match, pinning the rival back and especially capitalizing on their individual mistakes when playing out from the back.

And that is where the problem lies, because, as always, there was a lack of cutting edge. In most of the plays, São Paulo’s attack was sterile, unable to turn the scenario into anything more concrete and extend the lead, which would have given them more peace of mind.

And the team had just learned a hard lesson in midweek, when the situation against Millonarios in the Copa Sudamericana was exactly the same. Tricolor started confidently, found an early goal, but then saw their level drop drastically.

If there were already reasons for the fans to feel more cautious than optimistic, the forced substitutions of Luciano and Sabino due to injury still in the first half showed that the script of relative calm that had been taking shape would not come to pass.

Sure enough… In the second half, Botafogo made changes. They added more speed to their attack and started targeting Tricolor’s full-backs. And an exhausted São Paulo side saw the scenario reverse. Aside from Pedro Ferreira and Artur, the rest of the team dropped off. And they watched the opponent create more often and with greater quality.

Exactly the same scenario seen against Millonarios… And it only did not end the same way because of a good refereeing performance, which disallowed two of Botafogo’s goals for offside, one of them with VAR assistance.

The tone of the final 20 minutes was that of a São Paulo side pinned back, hanging on as best they could amid Botafogo’s bombardment. Basically every aerial ball from the visitors caused danger. And in the rare counterattacking chances they got, the attack wasted them. A familiar late drama: in the 44th minute, Barrera hit a first-time shot from outside the box, and once again Tricolor walked away frustrated.

Dorival Júnior’s men will try to get back on track at 7 p.m. (Brasília time) on Tuesday (26), when they face another must-win: they need to beat Boston River, again at Morumbi, to seal direct qualification to the round of 16 as leaders of Group C. Can they be trusted?

In the Brasileirão, their next match is at 8:30 p.m. (Brasília time) on Sunday (31) against Remo, away from home, in the last game before the calendar break for the World Cup.

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