Paulistão or Brasileirão: São Paulo rely on Morumbi crowd to stay unbeaten | OneFootball

São Paulo begins the last week of January concerned about its schedule, especially due to the team's situation in the Paulistão, where it is seriously threatened with relegation, sitting in 14th place, just one spot above the relegation zone of the State Championship.

However, in the midst of this battle, the team also faces the debut of the Brasileirão, where this Wednesday (28) they will host Flamengo at Morumbi, at 9:30 PM (Brasília time). The club is counting on the strength of its fans at home to overcome the crisis during the tough stretch ahead.

Until the end of the first phase of the Paulistão, on February 15th, Carnival Sunday, Tricolor has six matches ahead, between national and state competitions, with four of them being played in front of their fans at Morumbi.

There are still three matches in the Paulista, against Santos, Primavera, and Ponte Preta, with the first two at home. In the Brasileirão, the initial sequence includes Flamengo, Santos again, and Grêmio, with only the derby being played away from Morumbi.

In the Campeonato Paulista, anything can happen. The poor campaign so far, with only 4 points and just one win in five games, is a warning sign. However, a win in the next match could put São Paulo, for the first time, in the qualifying zone for the knockout stage.

Still, a spot in the next phase is far from impossible. There are two home games, against Santos, who have also only won once so far, and Primavera, both very winnable matches. To finish, they face bottom-placed Ponte Preta in Campinas. It's not far-fetched to think about three wins, which would take the team to 13 points and likely qualification for the quarterfinals.

Even if qualification doesn't come, the chance of relegation, despite the current concerns in the standings, is small. The squad only depends on itself to confirm the statement made by president Harry Massis, who said this past weekend that São Paulo is ‘unrelegatable’. Let's see how that statement ages…

The big obstacle for this final stretch of the Paulistão is the start of the Brasileirão and how Hernán Crespo will manage his squad amid the upcoming busy schedule.

Some players, such as forwards André Silva and Ryan Francisco, and midfielder Luan, are still recovering from injuries sustained last year and have not returned to the pitch. Since there was practically no preseason this year, with only one week of training after the holidays, coach Crespo has been rotating his players, but this has already resulted in poor performances on the field.

Crespo begins preparations this Monday (26) for the clash against Flamengo, but is already also thinking about the match against Santos on Saturday (31), in order to manage playing time and avoid the injury crisis that plagued last season.

Check out Tricolor’s schedule until Carnival:

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