São Paulo show life as Luciano shines, club catch break amid crisis | OneFootball

São Paulo relied on the brilliance of Luciano to show signs of life and defeat São Bernardo 1-0 last Thursday night at Morumbis, in the second round of the Campeonato Paulista. On the field, the Tricolor earned a crucial breather amid the political crisis off the pitch and can continue working to shield the locker room, focusing on performance and results.

Faced with the need to seek victory after a disappointing debut, coach Hernán Crespo made radical changes to São Paulo's lineup. The coach switched the 3-5-2 system to a 4-3-3 and bet on more mobile sectors, with two full-backs, Lucas as a sort of attacking midfielder, and three fast forwards: Ferreirinha, Lucca, and Tapia.

The progress of the match was heavily affected by the torrential rain that fell at Morumbis from 5 p.m. (Brasília time) and continued for much of the 90 minutes. The wet pitch greatly hampered passing and São Paulo’s attempts at triangulation. Despite this, the team showed a more offensive posture and a change in attitude compared to the debut, almost opening the score at 17 minutes.

São Bernardo's main chances came from shots outside the box. São Paulo left a lot of space for their opponents to take risks, missing the presence of a defensive midfielder or a solid center-back duo. Even so, the team suffered little defensively. The rival was not effective in their passing and clearly also struggled with the soaked pitch.

Still, more was expected from a team with four attackers on the field — the Tricolor did little for a side that needed the win. Even with a lot of mobility and movement, especially from the youngster Lucca, São Paulo was far from piling up created chances and shots in the first half. Only in the final minutes did the Tricolor increase their attacking volume and spend more time in the attacking third, making good use of the flanks with Lucca and Ferreirinha.

Second half

São Paulo came back defensively disorganized for the second half and only didn’t concede a goal because Rafael was there to save the day. Arboleda and Sabino failed to communicate, and the ball went cleanly to Victor Andrade, who shot from inside the box. The goalkeeper palmed it away for a corner and prevented what would have been a crisis on the field for the Tricolor. Soon after, the home side responded and increased the intensity in attack.

The rain did not let up at Morumbis and continued to punish the players. The game didn’t offer much excitement, but São Paulo again pushed into the attacking third, especially down the flanks. Around the 20th minute, Crespo gave the Tricolor more presence in the box, bringing on Luciano and the return of Calleri, who had recovered from a serious knee injury after nine months.

São Paulo showed a bit more than in the 3-0 loss to Mirassol, but still left much to be desired. The team seemed to feel the effects of the short preseason and has yet to find its ideal rhythm. Given the circumstances, this seemed like the kind of game that could be decided by individual quality — and that’s exactly what happened. Luciano took responsibility and pulled a rabbit out of the hat, hitting a beautiful shot into the top corner to give the home side the win.

This was how the Tricolor secured their first victory of the season. Even though it wasn’t a great game, Hernán Crespo’s men responded after their dismal performance in the first round and revived the hopes of fans who are wishing for a better year than the last.

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