Rafael hails international break, says São Paulo are ready: "Important" | OneFootball

Goalkeeper Rafael emphasized the importance of the break for the FIFA international window, which gave the São Paulo squad 15 days to rest, recover, and prepare for the final stretch of the season, including the Libertadores quarterfinals.

“We have been training every day, dedicating ourselves to tackle this final part of the year, of the championship. So, it was very important to recover some players, and some new players have arrived, so we are reinforced and the expectation is that on Sunday we will start by playing a great match, a great spectacle, with the help of our fans,” said Rafael.

São Paulo will host Botafogo next Sunday at 5:30 p.m. (Brasília time) at Morumbis, for the 23rd round of the Brazilian Championship. It will be the first official match after 15 days. Right after that, on Thursday, Tricolor will face LDU in Ecuador, for the first leg of the Libertadores quarterfinals.

“Every bit of time we have, which is short because of so many games, is important for Crespo to work with us, to train all the ideas he asks for during the matches. To absorb more and more, because with games on Wednesdays and Sundays and the recovery we need to do, we can’t work on everything we need. This time was very important to be able to train and recover physically to continue with this very intense style of play we have been doing,” continued the São Paulo goalkeeper.

Against Botafogo, São Paulo is looking to break a nearly five-year taboo. The last victory of Tricolor over their Rio rival was in 2020. Since then, there have been five draws and five wins for Glorioso in ten matches.

“A great team will come for the duel, we have had great games against Botafogo, we know that Sunday will be a great match, we have to be very well prepared, do our best, because we know Botafogo will come looking for the win. We will be ready to play a great game and, God willing, we will come out with the victory to bring joy to our fans,” he concluded.

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