Luciano on his knack for knockout ties with São Paulo: "I'm blessed" | OneFootball

Luciano is gearing up to try and make a difference for São Paulo in yet another decision. This Thursday, Tricolor visits LDU, at the altitude of Quito, for the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores, and relies on their number 10 to, perhaps, return home with a good result in the bag.

Luciano is the fourth player with the most goals in knockout stages in the history of São Paulo. The player has already scored 22 times in 62 knockout games with the tricolor shirt, trailing only three club names: Luis Fabiano (55 goals), França (36 goals) and Raí (25 goals).

“I am a blessed guy, I have the privilege of wearing this shirt. In these decisive games, God always blesses me. I hope that once again he can bless me, that I can score goals or provide assists for my teammates, increase these numbers that are good in knockouts for this club. It's no use for me to score the goal and we don't win. I hope our team can play well above all, come out victorious and bring a good result for Morumbis", said Luciano.

The expectation is that the number 10 will be a starter in the attack, a sector that currently has many absences. It remains to be seen who will play alongside Luciano against LDU.

“We come from excellent results, our team is confident, we have our own game idea, this is very much part of what we are training these days. With several absences we put into practice against Botafogo, this is good, because when you are winning, confidence increases. It will be a very difficult game, it's the quarterfinals of the Libertadores, but our team is prepared and we are going there to play a great game”, he continued.

São Paulo has never won against LDU away from home. In three games at the altitude of Quito, there were three defeats. Now, those led by coach Hernán Crespo hope to end this streak and get closer to the much-dreamed spot in the Libertadores semi-final. In the last meeting between the two teams, Tricolor lost, 2 to 1, for the Copa Sudamericana. At Morumbis, they won 1-0, but fell on penalties, 5-4.

“We are working on some aspects, we saw the video of their games, we are also learning in this part of the video. The altitude counts, yes, but we went there and played a good game, a good second half, and brought a reversible result for Morumbis. We know the difficulties, but we also know the quality of our squad”, Luciano concluded.

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