São Paulo strike early, but Botafogo snatch draw, 8 without a win | OneFootball

The fans who braved the rain and cold hanging over Morumbi on Saturday night (23) experienced a real déjà vu. Just as happened midweek against Millionarios in the Copa Sudamericana, São Paulo started the match all over the opponent. But their performance dropped drastically in the second half, and once again they suffered a painful equalizer in the final minutes. That came after hanging on as best they could and seeing the refereeing disallow two Botafogo goals. A 1-1 draw in the 17th round of the Brazilian Championship that leaves the bitter taste of a defeat. Whether because of the risk of ending the round outside the G-4, or because of the loss caused by the injuries to Luciano and Sabino.

And as if bad luck never comes alone, Tricolor’s frustrating drought continues: they have now gone eight matches without knowing what a win feels like.

The clash had a must-win feel for São Paulo, since they had stayed in the Copa Libertadores qualification zone amid this pitiful run more because of their rivals’ lack of ability than their own merit. With the draw, the club reaches 25 points and remains in fourth place. A combination of results, however, could drop the club to eighth.

The weather conditions gave Tricolor a nice little helping hand right on the game’s first play. It rained so much before kickoff that Morumbi’s drainage couldn’t cope. Staff members were using squeegees to help clear the water until the match began.

The São Paulo players seemed to have picked up on that, and so in the 3rd minute, Artur struck from outside the box, the ball bounced on the grass and fooled goalkeeper Neto, who spilled it and gifted the rebound, kindly and lovingly, to Luciano, free of any marking, to tap into the net.

The early goal seemed to leave the Rio side stunned. And São Paulo, needing a positive result, took advantage. Well, partly… For the next 45 minutes, Tricolor dictated the rhythm of the game, managing to pin back the rival and especially capitalize on their individual mistakes while playing out from the back.

And that’s where the problem lies, because, as always, they lacked sharpness. In most moves, São Paulo’s attack was sterile, unable to turn the scenario into anything more concrete and extend the lead, which would have given them more peace of mind.

And the team had already learned a hard lesson in midweek, when the scenario against Millionarios in the Copa Sudamericana was exactly the same. Tricolor started confidently, found an early goal, but then saw their performance drop drastically.

If there were already reasons for the fans to be more cautious than optimistic, the forced substitutions of Luciano and Sabino due to injury still in the first half showed that the script of relative calm would not come true.

Sure enough… In the second half, Botafogo made changes. They added more pace to their attack and started going at Tricolor’s full-backs. And an exhausted São Paulo side saw the situation turn around. Aside from Pedro Ferreira and Artur, the rest of the team dropped off. And they saw the opponent create more often and with more quality.

Exactly the same scenario seen against Millionarios… And it only did not end the same way sooner because of the referee’s good performance, disallowing two of Botafogo’s goals for offside, one of them with VAR assistance.

The tone of the final 20 minutes was that of a pinned-back São Paulo hanging on however they could amid Botafogo’s bombardment. Basically every aerial ball from the Rio side caused danger. And in the rare chances they got on the counterattack, the attack wasted them. A familiar late drama: in the 44th minute, Barrera hit a first-time strike from outside the box, and once again Tricolor walked away frustrated.

Dorival Júnior’s men will try to recover their good form at 7 p.m. (Brasília time) on Tuesday (26), when they face another decisive match: they need to beat Boston River, again at Morumbi, to seal direct qualification to the round of 16 as leaders of Group C. Can they be trusted?

In the Brasileirão, the next commitment is at 8:30 p.m. (Brasília time) on Sunday (31) against Remo, away from home, in the last match before the break in the calendar for the World Cup.

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