São Paulo: Pablo Maia nears return, trains without mask | OneFootball

With the match against Botafogo coming up in the Brazilian Championship — scheduled for next Saturday (23) at 5 p.m. (Brasília time) at Morumbi — São Paulo’s squad trained this Thursday (21) at the Barra Funda Training Center.

The morning of preparations began with a video shown to the players by the coaching staff. Afterwards, the athletes went out onto the pitch and started activities with a warm-up focused on mobility and coordination exercises.

Next, Dorival Júnior and his coaching staff led a ten-versus-ten training session in a reduced space.

There was also additional offensive technical work, focused on long balls, crosses, and finishing.

From the images released by the club of the session, one new development stood out: Pablo Maia appeared without the protective mask after surgery to repair fractures to his nose and face. The defensive midfielder is working on regaining full fitness, and the expectation is that he will be included in the squad for the match.

There is also still anticipation surrounding Marcos Antônio. In transition after a right rectus femoris injury, the midfielder depends on clearance from the medical department and fitness coaches.

On Friday morning (22), Tricolor will wrap up preparations for next weekend’s match, which will be valid for the 17th round of the national competition.

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