São Paulo struggle to overturn two-goal deficits at Morumbi | OneFootball

São Paulo lost to LDU 2-0 in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals this Thursday (18), and will now have to overturn a two-goal deficit just to at least take the match to penalties next week at Morumbi.

To qualify for the semifinals, however, Tricolor will need, above all, to overcome itself. And break a historic record that is anything but positive.

This is the 12th time São Paulo has lost a first leg away from home by more than one goal in knockout competitions (see table below).

On only five of those occasions, however, the team managed to overturn the result at Morumbi, including the most recent one, in 2023.

If it’s any consolation for the more pessimistic fans, only twice did Tricolor not win the return leg in these matchups.

Source: ANOTAÇÕES TRICOLORES

UNFAVORABLE NUMBERS

Since returning to command the Morumbi club, Hernán Crespo has had 16 matches, with eight wins, four draws, and four losses, resulting in a 62% success rate.

However, none of the Argentine’s eight wins were by a three-goal margin, the difference needed for São Paulo to qualify in regular time next week.

Of those eight victories under the Tricolor coach, however, only three were by a two-goal margin: 2-0 over Corinthians and Atlético-MG, and a 3-1 over Fluminense.

If we consider the entire season, only once this season did Tricolor achieve a result that would qualify them directly to the Libertadores semifinals: it was way back on February 5, when they thrashed Mirassol 4-1 in the Paulista Championship.

The last time São Paulo managed to qualify for the next stage of the Libertadores after losing the first leg by at least two goals was in 1993.

On that occasion, the Morumbi club lost the first leg of the round of 16 by the same 2-0 score to Newell’s Old Boys of Argentina, away from home. The opponent had been their rival in the previous year’s Libertadores final, when Tricolor lifted the trophy after a penalty shootout.

But they managed to overturn the score in the return leg at home, winning 4-0 and continuing on the path to secure their second continental title.

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