Unbelievable: São Paulo hit by 71 absences, Lucas and Oscar lead | OneFootball

São Paulo’s year has come to an end, and we can finally tally up exactly how many players were absent from the team due to injuries, contusions, or even more serious medical issues that plagued some members of the squad in 2025.

Right in January, the start of the season already hinted at what was to come, with injuries announced for goalkeeper Young (right foot sprain) and Luiz Gustavo (fractured left toe). In the final of the Copinha, Hugo Leonardo, a defensive midfielder who was set to be promoted to the professional team, suffered a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, had to undergo surgery, and spent the entire year in recovery.

ALL THE INJURED PLAYERS

These three early losses paved the way for a total of 71 injuries throughout the season, involving 31 different players, five of whom have already left the Tricolor: Erick, Ruan Tressoldi, Henrique Carmo, Igor Vinícius, and Lucas Ferreira. The data comes from Anotações Tricolores.

The other 26 athletes were: Young and Leandro Mathias (goalkeepers), Alan Franco, Arboleda, Ferraresi, and Rafael Tolói (center-backs), Cédric Soares, Maik, Enzo Díaz, and Wendell (full-backs), Luiz Gustavo, Hugo Leonardo, Alisson, Pablo Maia, Marcos Antonio, and Luan (defensive midfielders), Rodriguinho, Lucas, and Oscar (midfielders), and Ferreirinha, Calleri, Lucca, Ryan Francisco, André Silva, Dinenno, and Luciano (forwards).

Among these, the players who suffered the most medical setbacks were the ones most expected to shine this year, Lucas Moura and Oscar, the major signing by the board for the 2025 season. Each had six incidents that forced them off the pitch to recover.

THE GREAT HOPE WHO DIDN’T PLAY

Lucas’s case was the most symbolic, as all his absences were due to the same issue with his right knee, which began after the semifinal loss to Palmeiras in the Paulistão, back in March. On the 29th of that month, the club announced trauma to the right knee of their number 7, sidelining him for ten matches.

In May, after attempting to return to play, Lucas was diagnosed with a strain of the posterior capsule of the right knee, resulting in another 15 matches out of action for the Tricolor.

The new comeback did not go as planned, and in August Lucas Moura missed a game for load management and then another four after undergoing arthroscopy to remove fibrosis from his right knee. The pain persisted, and the attacking midfielder was unable to perform as expected.

In October, he was rested for another match for specific training, and finally in November, he was sidelined indefinitely due to the never-ending pain in his right knee, still unresolved by the end of the season. He missed 36 games due to physical problems.

The last medical update released by the club, on Saturday (6th), reported that after medication was applied to the painful area of his right knee, the attacking midfielder remains in treatment and is also working on muscle strengthening and motor control with physiotherapy. As reported by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, Lucas gave up part of his vacation to continue treatment at the CT in Barra Funda.

DISAPPOINTING YEAR

The other dramatic case was that of midfielder Oscar. At the end of March, he was diagnosed with a minor injury to the back of his left thigh, which kept him out for just one match. However, he returned while still not fully recovered, as he himself admitted, to help save the job of the embattled coach Luis Zubeldia, and aggravated the injury, which then sidelined him for another ten matches.

It didn’t take long for another injury, a swelling in the back of his left thigh, diagnosed in May. When he returned, more bad luck struck, as he suffered fractures to three lumbar vertebrae during a play in the derby against Corinthians in the Brasileirão. That meant another 16 games out.

After a gradual return, yet another muscle injury, this time to his left calf, kept Oscar out of six more matches. Finally, when the number 8 was preparing to return in November, he felt unwell during medical exams at the CT, was taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with vasovagal syncope, which could even end his career. In total, he missed 41 matches.

The situation with the four center-forwards this season was also alarming: Calleri, Ryan, André Silva, and Dinenno all had serious knee problems, with the first two needing surgery that ruled them out for the remainder of the season.

André chose not to undergo surgery, but he too lost the rest of the year from August onward, due to injury and a strain to the ACL in his right knee. The Argentine Dinenno underwent a minor procedure to treat pain in his right knee at the end of the season.

In the unbelievable Tricolor injury list, there were cases such as Rodriguinho’s facial trauma and broken nose, Wendell’s ruptured plantar fascia, and the most serious, Luiz Gustavo’s pulmonary thromboembolism, highlighting the incredible range of problems at the club.

Still struggling to understand what happened this year, São Paulo began a ‘witch hunt’ and fired several staff members from the health department, including a doctor and a physiotherapist, some of whom had been with São Paulo for over 30 years.

See below all the absences due to injuries and medical problems for the Tricolor in 2025:

Image: Anotações Tricolores

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