You know him, you trust him: Luciano downs Mirassol, saves Roger | OneFootball

For six years now, São Paulo fans have known: whenever things get tough, he can show up. And fix everything.

As has become routine, Luciano eased Tricolor’s attacking troubles and scored the decisive goal that sealed a 1-0 win over Mirassol on Saturday night (25) at Brinco de Ouro, in the 13th round of the Brazilian Championship.

The goal came 30 minutes into the second half, with the No. 10 rising above his marker to glance in a cross from Wendell. And the move, more than securing at least one more match in charge for the under-pressure coach Roger Machado—once again booed even away from Morumbi—was yet another summary of São Paulo’s difficult game.

Luciano’s header was the team’s only shot on target. Out of 19 total attempts in the match, Tricolor sent ten off target and saw another eight blocked.

But, to be fair, the poor finishing that prevented a bigger scoreline last week, in the Copa do Brasil clash against Juventude, was not one of the biggest problems this time. It was instead a tactical deficiency, from a team that could not break down the defensive setup put together by the visitors.

São Paulo could not find more effective ways to get past the two-line barrier set up by the side from the countryside. And they still had some scary moments on the few occasions when the visitors managed to launch counterattacks. In one of them, the net was even hit, but the play was ruled out for offside.

Despite Tricolor’s good overall play and some players clearly showing improvement, such as Cauly, the narrow win should be insufficient to ease the pressure on Roger.

The result, besides ending an uncomfortable winless run against the rival, means São Paulo will finish the round in the qualification zone for the next Copa Libertadores. With 23 points, the club can no longer be overtaken in fourth place.

Tricolor return to Brasileirão action at 4 p.m. (Brasília time) next Sunday (5/3) against Bahia. The match will be in Bragança Paulista (SP), since the board prefers concerts to football at Morumbi. Before that, the team will try to keep its unbeaten run in the Copa Sudamericana alive against Millonarios in Colombia at 9:30 p.m. (Brasília time) on Tuesday (28).

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