Luciano reveals CT chat, explains sub that got Roger booed at Morumbi | OneFootball

Forward Luciano scored for São Paulo for the third straight match, this time playing a decisive role in the 1-0 win over Juventude on Tuesday night (21) at Morumbi, in the first leg of the 5th round of the Copa do Brasil.

Despite the positive result, once again Roger Machado was booed and jeered by the Tricolor fans during the match, keeping tensions high with the stands. On Monday (2), the day before the game, some members of Torcida Independente went to the Barra Funda training center to confront the players. And Luciano revealed the tone of their demands.

“They asked for more commitment, for us to run more, fight harder for victories, and they also said we let a win slip away after a first half in which we had controlled Vasco at their place, and we agreed with that,” said the No. 10 in the mixed zone at Morumbi.

“We asked for their support, and today the fans came, showed up, and backed us. Of course we wanted to have won 2, 3, 4-0, but we’ll go there with a 1-0 lead and full confidence that, while respecting Juventude, we can come away with the win and qualification,” the forward added.

CONTROVERSY OVER THE SUBSTITUTION

The moment that sparked even more outrage and boos from São Paulo fans toward Roger was the substitution made by the coach near the end of the match, when he replaced Luciano, who had been playing well, with André Silva. The No. 10 defended the coach and said his substitution had already been planned.

“In the game against Vasco I asked to come off, I had missed two matches because of a calf injury, and today it was already in the schedule too — I was actually supposed to come off earlier, but I asked to stay a little longer.”

“After that I spoke with him and asked to come off for management reasons, because I can’t miss any more games, so it was load management and because I asked to come off,” the Tricolor striker explained.

São Paulo’s top scorer was also asked by the press what needs to happen for Roger Machado to finally win over the fans. And Luciano was emphatic.

“Win. We need to win, and win well, to restore confidence for all the players. We need a good win to convince people. I think today the biggest ones to blame were us players on the pitch, because we had chances to score, we had chances to kill off the game here, and we didn’t do it.”

“The coach practically draws it up and shows it to us on video. And today we were incapable of scoring the goals. We had four, five clear chances to score, and we only got one. So I think the biggest one to blame today wasn’t the coach, it was us players,” the striker stressed again, repeating what he had said as he left the pitch.

After a night like that, with Roger hanging on to his job as best he can, São Paulo’s attention now turns to the Brazilian Championship, where the team will try to stay in the G-4 when they face Mirassol at 9 p.m. (Brasília time) this Saturday (25), at Brinco de Ouro, since Morumbi will be unavailable due to a concert.

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