Marcos Antonio beats Luciano, fans pick São Paulo’s best of first half | OneFootball

The break in domestic football for the World Cup has arrived, and with it comes the end of this first half of the year, in which São Paulo irritated its fans more than it gave them reasons to celebrate.

If off the field the board grew tired of making mistakes, starting with Crespo’s dismissal and the arrival of the unpopular Roger Machado, until the appointment of Dorival Jr., the club’s third coach of the year, on the pitch the players tried hard to adapt to the changes while also dealing with many injuries.

In a poll conducted by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, it was precisely a player who was sidelined for a long time with injuries who won the fans’ choice as São Paulo’s best player in this first half of the year: defensive midfielder Marcos Antonio.

The No. 8, who controlled Tricolor’s midfield in a large number of matches, won the contest with more than half the votes over Luciano, earning 55% of São Paulo fans’ preference, compared to 22% who voted for the No. 10 top scorer.

Winger Artur, who arrived flying as the club’s latest signing, received 13% of the votes, finishing ahead of Paraguay’s World Cup call-up, defensive midfielder Bobadilla, who had 11% of the preference among participants in the AMT poll on our YouTube channel.

Of Tricolor’s 36 matches so far in 2026, Marcos Antonio played in 22 of them, providing three assists, though he is still searching for his first goal for the club. Luciano, meanwhile, has played 28 times, scoring 11 goals, which makes him the team’s top scorer of the year alongside Calleri, in addition to also providing three assists for his teammates.

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