Against LDU, Rigoni out to boost strong knockout record for São Paulo | OneFootball

Emiliano Rigoni will return to play a knockout match for São Paulo this Thursday, in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Libertadores, against LDU. The Argentine has accumulated good numbers in these types of games during his first stint with Tricolor and hopes to expand his positive performance.

In total, Rigoni has played 13 knockout games for the Morumbis team, scoring seven goals and providing two assists. There were seven matches in the Copa do Brasil, three in the Libertadores, two in the Campeonato Paulista, and one in the Sul-Americana. The Argentine has scored 13 goals for São Paulo, meaning more than half of the goals were scored in knockout games.

Of the seven goals, two were scored in the 2021 Libertadores. The striker netted twice in the 3-1 victory over Racing-ARG, which qualified São Paulo for the quarterfinals of that edition, in which they would be eliminated by Palmeiras. Rigoni did not score in the two clashes against the alviverde rival.

The other five goals were scored in the 2021 Copa do Brasil. The Argentine scored in the 9-2 rout against 4 de julho, in which he also provided an assist, and in the two matches against Vasco (2) and Fortaleza (2), in the round of 16 and quarterfinals, respectively. In the following edition, he did not participate in goals in the two games he played.

Rigoni again directly participated in a São Paulo goal in a knockout match in the 4-1 victory over São Bernardo, in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Paulistão, when he provided an assist. He neither scored nor provided assists in the Sul-Americana, where he only played 14 minutes of the second leg of the 2022 round of 16 match against Universidad Católica-CHI.

Back with Tricolor, Rigoni is available for coach Hernán Crespo for the Libertadores quarterfinals. The Argentine made his re-debut for the team last Sunday, when he came on in the second half of the 1-0 victory over Botafogo, in the Brazilian Championship. Although he is not yet a starter, the player may gain more playing time due to the few options in the attack sector, which is suffering from injuries to Calleri, André Silva, and Ryan Francisco.

The first match against LDU is scheduled for 7pm (Brasília time) this Thursday, at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium, in Quito, Ecuador. The return match will take place on the 25th, at the same time, at Morumbis.

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