He São Paulowith goals from Paraguayan Damián Bobadilla and Argentine Jonathan Calleri, won Thursday 2-0 against National in an eventful match where they eliminated the Uruguayan team and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Libertadores Cup, where the Brazilian Botafogo will also be measured.
The clear dominance of the São Paulo team was overshadowed by two long delays in the match, the first caused by chaos among the Nacional fans and the second by the sudden collapse of Uruguayan defender Juan Manuel Izquierdo, who had to be removed from the stadium by ambulance and transferred to the hospital.
The team led by Argentine coach Luis Zubeldía needs victory at any point at home to qualify for the quarterfinals after securing a crucial 0-0 away draw last week in Montevideo in the first leg of the round of 16. Their rivals next up is Botafogo, current leader of the Brazilian Championship and on Wednesday eliminated Palmeiras, one of the favorites for the title after being Libertadores champions in 2020 and 2021 and a semifinalist in 2022 and 2023.
The Paulistas, three-time Libertadores champions, started the attack from the first minute and were clearly dominant in the first half, where they had 77% of the ball possession and kicked nine times against the opposition goal against three of the Uruguayans. In addition to staying on the attack, the locals completely neutralized Nacional, who almost failed to create and only had one clear scoring chance, with Lucas Sanabria on the right.
Dominating, São Paulo persevered to find spaces and finally managed to open the scoring in the 31st minute when, after a back assist from Calleri, Bobadilla kicked from outside the area and, with the ball placed in the corner, leave without. options for goalkeeper Luis Mejía. São Paulo needed just two minutes of the second half to increase the lead after Calleri, with a header and inside the area, finished from a ball thrown in by Wellington Rato from the right.
After the second goal, the match had to be suspended for six minutes due to unrest in the section of the stadium reserved for Nacional fans, who clashed with police and tore up some of the plastic seats. The Uruguayan players themselves had to intervene to ask the fans to calm down.
After the delay, the São Paulo team chose to manage their advantage and gave Nacional more freedom, starting to hold the ball more but not creating danger, while the Brazilians played counterattacks. In the 70th minute, in the clearest option for the visitors, Pereyra crashed the ball against Rafael’s right post and was prevented in the last minute from taking advantage of the rebound.
The Uruguayans, with their attack renewed after the introduction of Nico López, Nicolás Rodríguez and Diego Herazo, came closer and had new chances in the 79th minute, with a shot inside the area by Herazo that went over the crossbar, and in the 80th minute, a free kick from Nico López that Rafael had to work hard to save.
But when Nacional were at their best, Izquierdo’s fainting in the middle of the field in the final minute of regulation time dampened spirits and caused concern and the Uruguayans barely reacted to the 15-minute substitution given by the referee.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
