Painful defeat: Rafael backs São Paulo for comeback | OneFootball

In its two best moments in the match this Thursday (18) in Quito, Ecuador, São Paulo conceded the two goals to LDU, which ended up consolidating the advantage at the end of the game to take the lead in the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores.

The feeling was truly one of pain. The tricolor team changed its approach after the break and, with Ferreirinha inspired, created great chances to score. Goalkeeper Rafael, who also made a great save at the end, lamented the score, praising the team's good performance away from home.

“A defeat that really hurts because the result doesn't reflect the game. I think we played a good game, we managed to control it, we had opportunities, but football is sometimes like that, they came three, four times, were efficient, and scored the two goals,” said the downcast goalkeeper to the Paramount channel.

“And it's regrettable because I believe it wasn't a game for this result, but also regret very little because we have the return game next Thursday, we have the support of our fans, we are at home and we have every ability to reverse this situation,” pondered the São Paulo goalkeeper, believing in the team's comeback at Morumbi.

After being shaken by the goal conceded in the first half, São Paulo completely changed its stance in the 2nd half and went on the attack against La U, also with some changes in players by Hernán Crespo.

“We managed, on the return, Crespo guided us, helped us see where the spaces were, and I think that made our team grow within the match,” explained Rafael, who valued the squad.

“The substitutions as well, we always emphasize that we will need everyone a lot and certainly the five who come off the bench, and we played a game where we were looking for the equalizer, unfortunately, we conceded the second goal,” he said.

“But it serves as a learning experience and now it's about seeing what we did well, adjusting the mistakes so that on Thursday we can play a great game at home and seek this qualification which is our goal,” Rafael added still on the pitch of the Casa Blanca stadium.

Now the Tricolor is chasing the deficit and will need to win by at least two goals in the return match next Thursday (25), at 7 PM (Brasília time), at Morumbi, to at least take the decision of the spot in the semifinals to penalties.

Before that, however, the club returns to the field at 8:30 PM (Brasília time) on Sunday (21) for the classic against Santos, at Vila Belmiro, for the Brazilian Championship.

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