São Paulo wins away from home in the Libertadores on Zubeldía’s debut

On Thursday night (25), São Paulo went to Ecuador to face Barcelona de Guayaquil in the third round of the Libertadores group stage. After the dismissal of Thiago Carpini and a game led by interim Milton Cruz in the Brazilian Championship, today it was the turn of new coach Luis Zubeldía to debut in charge of Tricolor.

In history, the clubs have faced each other four times in the Libertadores. The clashes were marked by one victory for each team and two draws. In 1992, when São Paulo won the competition, Barcelona were their opponents in the semi-final and Tricolor won 3-0 at Morumbi and ended up losing 2-0 in Ecuador.

For today's match, Luis Zubeldía opted for a different lineup than the fans were already accustomed to: he entered the field with four defenders and used Luciano as a midfielder. The Argentine's risky tactical scheme worked, as Tricolor dominated the first half.

Calleri in the Libertadores artillery

In a pass that featured the trio of attackers, André Silva turned the ball over to Ferreirinha, who dominated the ball and found Calleri who rose above Barcelona's defenders. In the 6th minute, the Argentine scored his 11th goal in 14 games in the competition, isolating himself in the Libertadores' foreign artillery. Barcelona tried to chase the result, but only managed to react at the end of the first half.

Tricolor secures 3 points in the second half

The Barcelona team came back from the break more focused on the game and started attacking right at the beginning of the second half, but Rojas was stopped by two brilliant saves from Rafael before the five minutes. After the initial pressure, the Ecuadorians tried to equalize, but without success.

In the 18th minute, after a corner taken from the right, the Barcelona goalkeeper punched the ball, which fell to Alisson at the edge of the area. The midfielder didn't think twice, he hit the ball and scored a beautiful goal, to increase the score for Tricolor. After the second goal, the Ecuadorian team tried to press to get past the São Paulo defense, but without success.

Upcoming games in the Libertadores

São Paulo returns to play in the competition on May 8, at altitude in Chile, against Cobresal. On the 16th and 29th of May, Tricolor will have two home games, against Barcelona and Talleres, respectively.

Currently, the Argentine team Talleres is at the top of group B of the Libertadores with 7 points. Tricolor is in second place with 6 points, followed by Barcelona with 2 points and Cobresal in last place, with just 1 point.

Featured photo: Arboleda from São Paulo and Vargas from Barcelona (Photo: reproduction/Instagram/@saopaulofc)