Young side beat altitude, hold Millonarios to stay unbeaten | OneFootball

Playing with a mixed squad, in an unprecedented three-center-back setup devised by Roger Machado, against an opponent that boasts an unbeaten record against São Paulo, at the altitude of Bogotá, the outlook was far from promising.

And indeed, the prophecy came true as expected: a 0-0 draw with Millonarios on Tuesday night (28), away from home, in the third round of the Copa Sudamericana group stage.

The result was enough to keep the team unbeaten in the continental competition. São Paulo now has seven points, pulling clear at the top of Group C. Only the first-place team advances directly to the round of 16.

In a scenario more experimental than truly competitive, São Paulo’s backups started better than the Colombians on the pitch, dictating the tempo, but once again wasting the goal-scoring chances they created.

However, the lack of cohesion soon took its toll, and the home side turned things around, creating far more danger.

The truly desperate scenario only emerged in the second half, when a pinned-back Tricolor failed to find itself with the substitutions and tactical reshuffle, and watched Millonarios completely take control of the game. Luckily, this is an extremely fragile opponent.

São Paulo now returns to Copa Sudamericana action next Thursday (5/7), when it will face O’Higgins in Chile. Before that, the club turns its attention back to the Brazilian Championship, where it will try to stay in the Libertadores qualification zone in a direct clash with Bahia, at 4 p.m. Brasília time on Sunday (5/3), in a match to be played in Bragança Paulista (SP) because, as everyone knows, the club’s priority is to make money from concerts at Morumbi.

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