Calleri has a better start in São Paulo and seeks to cross Palmeiras off the list

The crowd asks them to play the ball for him because, as the song says, “it’s a goal”, and Jonathan Calleri confirms with balls in the net the prayers coming from the stands.

This is how the beginning of 2022 has been for the São Paulo striker, responsible for deciding last Saturday (5th) the classic against Corinthians. His goal, scored with just 51 seconds into the match, was enough for Rogério Ceni’s team to emerge victorious from Majestoso, valid for the Paulista Championship.

There are already five balls in the net in ten games by the Argentine, a performance that marks the best start of the striker with the São Paulo shirt.

In 2016, in his first spell at the club, Calleri took 18 matches to reach five goals. Last year, on his return to the São Paulo team after five years, he needed 15 matches to reach that mark.

The return to Morumbi also served for him to settle a pending account. In the 31 games he played in 2016, then on loan from Boca Juniors (ARG), he had failed to score against Corinthians, Palmeiras or Santos.

In 2021, he left his own against Santos in the 1-1 draw for the Brazilian Championship, a tournament in which he also opened his personal marker over the Corinthians, in the 1-0 victory, in the final stretch of Nacional. Done and score repeated last weekend, with another goal over the rival of Parque São Jorge, this time for the State.

It remains, however, to score against Palmeiras. And Calleri will have the opportunity to cross this opponent off the list this Thursday (10), at Morumbi, for the fourth round of Paulista. Paulistão Play and Premiere broadcast the Choque-Rei.

The duel with Alviverdes was scheduled for the start of the competition, but had to be rescheduled due to Palmeiras’ participation in the Club World Cup. Therefore, Abel Ferreira’s team will have to face three consecutive classics. After São Paulo, they will face Santos, on Sunday (13), and Corinthians, next Thursday (17).

Rogério Ceni, who has 100% success in the classics he has played since he returned to the tricolor club (four wins in four matches), counts on Calleri’s firepower so that his team can guarantee early classification to the quarterfinals of the State Championship. .

“[O Calleri é] a competitive, committed player when he is focused on the game. He is a good player, but a goal scorer. A man in the area is not to leave the area so much, he is to be a reference”, said the coach after the victory at Majestoso.

Ceni’s observation of where Calleri can contribute most finds support in statistics.

When he leaves the area, shirt 9 finds it difficult to make the game flow. According to figures from Opta, of the 84 passes he tried in the Campeonato Paulista, the striker hit 56 – an accuracy rate of 67%. Of the total, 40 passes were given in the final third of the field, with a 64% success rate.

Inside the penalty area, however, the Argentine feels at ease. At State, he hit 48% of the submissions he tried. With that, he has the second best aim of the tournament among players who finished at least 20 times, behind only Zeca, from Mirassol, who hit the target 64% of the time.

Scorer of five goals, one of them on a bicycle (against Água Santa), he is São Paulo’s top scorer in the competition.

This Thursday, with a Morumbi that will be able to receive 100% of the public after release from the state government, the São Paulo fan hopes that his song dedicated to Jonathan Calleri will be performed once again. Because if the ball touches him, especially inside the area, there are good chances of finishing in goal.