Lucas returns to full training, boosts São Paulo’s Libertadores hopes | OneFootball

The São Paulo squad continues its preparations for the important match on Thursday (25) against LDU, and received good news during the training session led by Hernán Crespo on Tuesday morning (23).

Attacking midfielder Lucas took another important step in his recovery process from knee arthroscopy and increased internal confidence that he will be among Crespo’s selected players for the decisive match at Morumbi.

The match will be at 7 p.m. (Brasília time), and Tricolor needs to overturn a 2-0 deficit to advance to the Copa Libertadores semifinal. The stadium will be packed and there are almost no tickets left.

In today’s training, coach Hernán Crespo and his staff led a session focused on building plays and finishing, followed by a tactical 11-on-11 drill—the classic scrimmage—with the participation of youth academy players.

Lucas Moura, who underwent arthroscopy on his right knee on August 30 to remove fibrosis that was still bothering him, participated in the entire ball training session at CT da Barra Funda and took another step in his recovery ahead of the upcoming decisive match against the Ecuadorians.

According to information released by ‘ESPN‘, Tricolor should have the reinforcements of attacking midfielders Oscar and Lucas for the second leg of the quarterfinals against LDU. Both are expected to be options on Crespo’s bench.

On Monday (22), Oscar once again participated in all ball activities alongside his teammates, which was repeated today. Having recovered from fractures in three lumbar vertebrae, the number 8 has been training without restrictions since last Friday (19).

Right-back Cédric, who missed the derby against Santos last Sunday (21) due to a virus, returned to field training with a reduced workload. He has only one day, therefore, to prove himself fit for the match.

If the Portuguese wingback is unavailable, Crespo will put Maílton in his place on the right, a reinforcement who has shown character in the last two games he played. Thus, an initial lineup draft, which will still be finalized in the last training session on Wednesday afternoon (24) at the CT, is: Rafael, Ferrarei, Arboleda, and Alan Franco; Maílton (Cédric), Marcos Antonio, Bobadilla, Rodriguinho, and Enzo Díaz; Ferreirinha and Luciano.

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