São Paulo ultras enter training ground, ‘pact’ with squad and Rafinha | OneFootball

The week began with intense pressure at São Paulo. On the morning of this Monday (20), as the squad wrapped up its preparations for its Copa do Brasil debut, the club received a visit at the Barra Funda training center from Torcida Independente, the Tricolor’s main organized supporters’ group, to demand answers for the team’s poor run on and off the pitch.

The first to be confronted was president Harry Massis, as he was driving into the club’s training center. Leaders of the organized supporters’ group, including Henrique Gomes, known as Baby, confronted the São Paulo chairman, mainly demanding the dismissal of football director Rui Costa. Watch below!

The message was that Roger Machado is not the main one to blame for the Tricolor’s crisis, but rather the person who brought him in to replace Crespo — who was beloved by the fans — namely Rui Costa.

At the end of the conversation between the supporters and Massis, Baby said he was waiting for authorization from Rafinha to enter the training center and speak with the players. And that is what happened shortly afterward.

About ten Independente supporters spoke with all of São Paulo’s players, not just the group leaders, as well as official Rafinha, in the stands at the Barra Funda training center. Roger Machado was not involved.

The conversation lasted about 40 minutes, and the parties made a “pact” for greater commitment from the players and improved performances from the team on the pitch.

The tone of the conversation was the same as the one used with president Massis, in a way sparing coach Roger of blame and reinforcing the demand for executive Rui Costa to leave the club. As he left the training center, Baby simply said that “everything is calm, everything is normal.”

In this tense atmosphere, the Tricolor completed its preparations for the clash against Juventude, on Tuesday night (21), at 7:15 p.m. (Brasília time), at Morumbi, in the first leg of the 5th round of the Copa do Brasil.

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