São Paulo: Crespo to use Luiz Gustavo in midfield v Grêmio | OneFootball

The São Paulo squad returned on the morning of this Monday (13) and trained at the Barra Funda training center, focusing on the match against Grêmio, for the 28th round of the Brazilian Championship, which will be played at 7 PM (Brasília time) on Thursday (16), away from home.

The first part of the day's activities was led by the physical trainers. With one group in the Reffis and another in the outdoor gym, the athletes performed a circuit with strength and plyometric exercises.

On the field, the coaching staff conducted a series of drills focusing on individual confrontations and different attack versus defense situations, with play construction, crosses, and finishes.

Finally, the squad was divided into four teams for small-sided games, also focusing on attack versus defense situations and on constructing the plays worked on, as long passes and aerial balls were not allowed in this activity.

The novelty of the training was the return of forward Gonzalo Tapia, who participated in all stages of the work after serving his national team and playing the full 90 minutes of the home friendly against Peru last Friday (10) – Chile won 2-1, and the São Paulo player was involved in the plays that led to both goals.

Defender Ferraresi is scheduled to return to the training center for Tuesday's (14) activity. He was with the Venezuelan national team and played throughout the 1-0 defeat to Argentina in a friendly held in Miami, also on Friday (10).

Midfielder Bobadilla, on the other hand, will still represent Paraguay in a friendly against South Korea in Seoul this Tuesday (14). On Friday (10), Bobadilla started and provided the assist for Paraguay's first goal in the 2-2 draw with Japan in Osaka.

For the clash against the team from Rio Grande do Sul, coach Hernán Crespo will not be able to count on Pablo Maia, suspended due to a third yellow card. With Bobadilla still with his national team and Luan recovering from an injury, the tendency is for veteran Luiz Gustavo to join the team.

The likely São Paulo lineup to face Grêmio should be Rafael; Alan Franco, Arboleda, and Sabino; Cédric Soares, Luiz Gustavo, Marcos Antônio, Rodriguinho, and Enzo Díaz; Luciano and Tapia.

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