São Paulo beat Bahia, reignite hopes for Libertadores qualification | OneFootball

It was the night of the probable farewell of the year at Morumbi, since the club will now have an entire month of concerts held at its home. And São Paulo did not want to disappoint the fans, after accumulating disappointments.

On the night of this Saturday (25), rediscovering the good football that had disappeared for some time, the Tricolor delivered a masterful first half to achieve the necessary 2-0 to seal the return to victories, precisely against Bahia, of the eternal idol Rogério Ceni and one of its targets in the fight to secure a spot in the next edition of the Copa Libertadores.

In practical terms, rehabilitation in the Brazilian Championship was more than necessary, especially against a direct opponent in the pursuit of the only remaining goal of the season. And for this, coach Hernán Crespo innovated, theoretically fielding an unprecedented attacking duo with Lucas and Luciano.

We say theoretically because, in practice, São Paulo returned to attacking with a block of five men in its offensive line. The novelty was the tactical position. Besides the wingbacks Enzo Díaz (who returned from injury) and Maik, Lucas, Luciano, and a surprising Marcos Antônio formed a line of three, taking turns as the occasion demanded to see who advanced and became the reference man for the effective completion of plays.

It was such an unprecedented movement that it seemed to catch Ceni off guard. And the Tricolor didn't take long to find its goal. Just six minutes in, after a play by Maik on the right, Luciano took advantage of the pass to strike first and open the scoring, marking his hundredth goal for the Morumbi club.

Was the goal enough to calm the heightened spirits? More or less, because in practice (again), Bahia took advantage of the only visible deficiency of São Paulo until then, the defensive recomposition when losing the ball. In two instances, they almost scored (in the first, Arboleda disarmed Nestor, in the second, Jean Lucas missed an incredible goal face-to-face with Rafael).

A problem that Crespo did not hesitate to correct. With a more practical than fanciful solution. He switched Marcos Antônio with Bobadilla. Done. The number 20, more agile and with better game vision, ended the surprise that the Paraguayan provided, somewhat lost with Pablo Maia in the first challenge. And the second goal came on a silver platter.

At 40 minutes, Luciano received a lobbed ball from Pablo Maia and made a backheel pass to Bobadilla, now the other surprise man in the attack, who struck firmly to extend the lead.

Game over for us, as Bahia completely succumbed seeing two of its three substitutions made at halftime become useless with the players leaving the field due to injury.

In the second half, the picture of dominance: a São Paulo cooking the cassava against a harmless, dazed, and injured Bahia, with no power of reaction. It was just about watching the time pass. And taking the time to pay well-deserved tributes to president Julio Casares in the stands.

The victory 'stops the bleeding' and leaves the Tricolor with 41 points, five behind Botafogo, currently sixth in the table and the last of the Libertadores qualifiers.

The team returns to the field now on the following Sunday (11/2), against Vasco da Gama, away from home, at 8:30 PM (Brasília time), in another match that has become direct for the remaining goal of the year.

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