São Paulo, at last, is free from the risk of relegation to the second division

São Paulo, finally, is free from the risk of relegation in the Brazilian Championship.

It took a while, it was only in the penultimate round of Nacional, but the victory this Monday (6) over Juventude, by 3-1, at Morumbi, guaranteed the club’s permanence in Serie A. With 48 points, the team can no longer be reached by opponents who are in the sticking zone.

Luciano (twice) and Calleri, the names most sung by the crowd, noted the goals of the triumph against the Gauchos, who go into the last round with the risk of falling to the second division – Jair Ventura’s team faces Corinthians, who have already assured the classification to the group stage of the Copa Libertadores next year, on Thursday (9), in Caxias do Sul.

Top scorer in the last season’s championship with 18 goals, Luciano faced a series of injury problems in the current season, and the lack of continuity had an impact on his performance, far short of that shown at the 2020 Brazilian Nationals.

In just 30 seconds of the match against Juventude, the shirt 11 took a stand on the side and got the yellow card, a sign of nervousness due to the need for the result and the pressure to escape the relegation.

On minute four, however, the same Luciano headed Rigoni’s cross to open the scoring at Morumbi and score his third goal at the Brazilian Nationals.

São Paulo managed the advantage and was little threatened by the visitors, even though they gave the Gauchos fouls in good positions so that the ball was raised in Tiago Volpi’s area.

The tricolor crowd was only slightly more relieved when Calleri, at 42 minutes, took advantage of a rebound from goalkeeper Douglas after Luciano’s header and turned it into the net, noting São Paulo’s second in the game and the Argentine’s fifth in Nacional.

In the final stage, Juventude continued circling Tiago Volpi’s area, but without taking any danger. Until Chico crossed from the left, Michel Macedo dominated on the other side and played into the middle of the area. Arboleda dozed off, missed Sorriso’s mark, and the forward put it in, reducing the home team’s advantage, at 17.

Despite being pressured by the goal of team alviverde, São Paulo had Luciano in an inspired night. Four minutes after Sorriso scored, Miranda sent a long ball straight from the defense to shirt 11, who took advantage of Forster’s hesitation and hit Douglas’s first shot to score the third and close the victory.

The final whistle at Morumbi put an end to the São Paulo ordeal in the Brazilian Championship, in a season that signaled a much more positive path than the one trodden throughout 2021.

Under the command of Hernán Crespo, the club was crowned São Paulo champion, ending an uncomfortable period of nine years without titles. The effort to win the State Championship, however, took a toll on the cast, who saw their physical and technical performance drop worryingly at the National Championship.

Eliminated from the Libertadores by rival Palmeiras, who had never won the Tricolors in the continental tournament and ended up twice America’s champion, he also fell in the Copa do Brasil to Fortaleza, in the quarterfinals.

Ahead of Cearenses, they had opened a 2-0 lead in the first game, at Morumbi, and allowed the tie in the final minutes. At Castelão, he was largely overtaken by Juan Pablo Vojvoda’s team, who won 3-1 and eliminated the São Paulo team.

That left, then, the dispute of the Brazilian. But Crespo was not able to take from his athletes the good performance he had achieved from them in Paulista. A streak of six draws caused the Argentine’s resignation, who was replaced by Rogério Ceni.

Under the command of the idol, Brazilian champion in the previous edition with Flamengo, the performance was not good either, but important victories against Corinthians, Internacional and Palmeiras (this one as a visitor, at Allianz Parque), gave São Paulo breath to score more than your opponents from the bottom and escape relegation. Relief consummated this Monday night, against Juventude, with Luciano as the protagonist.