São Paulo lose longest unbeaten run in their Libertadores history | OneFootball

São Paulo's longest unbeaten run in the Libertadores history has ended. On Thursday, Tricolor was defeated 2-0 by LDU, in Quito, in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals, complicating their chances of reaching the semifinals.

São Paulo took to the field at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium, more than 2800m above sea level, with an unbeaten run of 17 matches in the Libertadores, including nine victories and eight draws.

The last time Tricolor had been defeated in the continental tournament was in April 2024, when they lost to Talleres, in Córdoba, Argentina. Thiago Carpini was the team's coach at the time.

This was only the second time that São Paulo has been defeated by a two-goal margin under the command of Hernán Crespo. The only other occasion when Tricolor conceded two goals was precisely in the Argentine coach's debut at the helm of the team, against Flamengo, at Maracanã.

This, in fact, was the fourth defeat of the Argentine coach in charge of São Paulo in 16 matches. Hernán Crespo's performance at the helm of Tricolor is 58.3% so far.

Now São Paulo will have to overturn the adverse score next Thursday, in the second leg of the Libertadores quarterfinals, at 7pm (Brasília time), at Morumbis. Tricolor will need to beat LDU by three goals difference to advance to the tournament's semifinals in regular time. A victory by two goals difference will take the decision to penalties. The Ecuadorians only need a draw or even a loss by one goal difference to qualify.

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