São Paulo beats Ceará and opens six points to the relegation zone

São Paulo beat Ceará 2-0 this Sunday afternoon (18), at Castelão, with goals from Calleri and Bustos.

This was the first victory in the last five games of the Brazilian under Rogério Ceni. The result gives a relief to the team, which is now 13th in the table, with 34 points, six ahead of the first place in the relegation zone (Avaí, with 28 points).

São Paulo reached their goal in the 23rd minute of the first half, with Calleri. In the midst of three defenders, he managed to head in after Patrick’s cross. At the beginning of the same move, he had already forced João Ricardo, Ceará’s goalkeeper, to make a beautiful save.

Shortly thereafter, in the 39th minute, the São Paulo team’s mission became easier, as defender Luiz Otávio was sent off after taking down Calleri at the entrance of the area. The referee even scored a penalty, but, after a review proposed by VAR, went back and scored the infraction outside the area.

Rogério Ceni’s team was better in the match. João Ricardo made good saves in shots by Pablo Maia. In addition, Galoppo headed the crossbar after a corner from the right.

But Ceará also threatened, even with one less. In the 16th minute of the second half, Mendoza crossed to Vina, who hit a beautiful first-time shot and saw the ball pass close to the post defended by Felipe Alves.

Then, he managed to keep the ball a lot, but without creating clear chances for the tie, but the situation of Ceará got even worse when, in the 39th minute of the second half, striker Zé Roberto was sent off for hitting Diego Costa without the ball.

With two more players, São Paulo reached its second goal in the second half stoppage time. In the 48th minute, Marcos Guilherme hit a beautiful pass to Igor Gomes, who crossed with the first shot for Bustos to only support the nets.

Eliminated last Wednesday (14) by Flamengo in the semifinals of the Copa do Brasil after losing 1-0 at Maracanã, São Paulo now concentrates its forces on the Brazilian and the Sudamericana, a competition in which it is a finalist. The decision, against Independiente del Valle (EQU) takes place on October 1, in Cordoba, Argentina.

The team returns to the field next Sunday (25), when they receive Avai, at 8 pm, for the 28th round of the Brazilian Championship.