Dejecting: São Paulo lose to Corinthians, Libertadores hopes fade | OneFootball

The match held great expectations for São Paulo, still dreaming of securing a spot in the next edition of the Copa Libertadores. And for 45 minutes, the tricolor fans were left with the impression that things were going downhill. No wonder—the first half was dreadful. But in the end, changes were made, the team improved, and even managed to score. However, Pablo Maia and Sabino slipped up, and the final outcome was negative: a 2-1 defeat to rivals Corinthians in the classic played on Thursday night (20th), in Itaquera, for the Brazilian Championship.

In practical terms for the standings, obviously, the result did little to help. São Paulo drops to tenth place, with 45 points, eight behind Bahia, currently the last team in the coveted G-7. But there’s still hope, as the Copa do Brasil finals are yet to come, and maybe another spot will open up.

Not even São Paulo’s morale improves. The club sees an important unbeaten streak fall at their rival’s home, where they hadn’t lost since 2020 in the Brasileirão. On top of that, the negative streak continues (it’s now three matches in a row without a win).

São Paulo had one of their worst first halves of the year in Itaquera. Facing a truckload of absences and the fatigue of the trio who played for their national teams during the FIFA break, Crespo opted for a more pragmatic lineup, with no improvisations. The result was a slow team, with no transitions, boxed into their own half, while the opponent pressed higher and had absolute control of the game.

Despite this, there was still a thread of defensive quality, which was blown apart in the 26th minute, when Ferreirinha, in a stroke of pure misfortune, ended up bringing down Breno Bidon in the box during a challenge for the ball. At first, Anderson Daronco saw nothing wrong. But VAR intervened, and the penalty was given, converted by Yuri Alberto.

In the second half, Crespo obviously changed things. He took off the ineffective Patryck, brought on Tapia, and that gave the team a boost. In the 8th minute, after a corner taken by Cédric Soares, the Chilean confirmed his good form, rose well, and headed in to equalize the match.

It could have been the start of a comeback, but after a few minutes of intensity not seen in the first half, São Paulo slipped back into their usual lethargy. Better for the rival, who regained ground and capitalized on a mistake to take the lead again.

In the 38th minute, after a poor clearance by Matheus Bidu, Pablo Maia failed to clear properly and gifted the ball to Memphis Depay, one of the opponent’s weapons who had come on during the match. The Dutchman dribbled past Sabino with ease and struck firmly to score their second goal.

The thing is, Tricolor barely had time to react, as in the 43rd minute Vitinho was left unmarked, took a shot, the ball hit the post, and the rebound fell kindly for Yuri Alberto to finish and seal the result in the east zone.

Picking up the pieces of a melancholy end to the season, São Paulo returns to the field at 4pm (Brasília time) on Sunday (23rd) to face Juventude, in their last home game of the year at Vila Belmiro, and will have to treat the match as a true final if they want to keep dreaming of the Libertadores.

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