Picking up the pieces: São Paulo face Flamengo with new blow in defence | OneFootball

São Paulo’s squad trained on the morning of this Thursday (23) at the Barra Funda Training Center and began preparations to face Flamengo next Sunday (26), at 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time), at the Maracanã, in a match valid for the 20th round of the Brazilian Championship.

The Tricolor team is trying to recover in the competition, where they have gone six straight rounds without a win. To make matters worse, they lost center-back Rafael Tolói against the Rio side due to a thigh injury.

The squad’s return at the training center split the players into two groups: those who played longer in last Wednesday’s (22) defeat to Athletico Paranaense, in Bragança Paulista, did recovery work indoors, while the rest trained on the pitch with coach Dorival Júnior and his staff.

After the warm-up, the on-field activities began with a match between two teams, 11 against 11, in a reduced space. Afterwards, the group carried out technical drills by position.

Before traveling to Rio de Janeiro on Saturday afternoon (25), the Tricolor will have two more days of fine-tuning in training sessions in the São Paulo capital.

Tolói becomes unavailable

Center-back Rafael Tolói underwent imaging tests on Thursday morning and was diagnosed with a strain in the back of his right thigh.

After feeling pain, the number 2 was replaced by Osorio during the first half of the match against Athletico-PR at the Cícero de Souza Marques stadium, for the Brazilian Championship.

The defender has already begun treatment with the club’s physiotherapists and will not be available for the team’s next match against Flamengo.

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