São Paulo face Cruzeiro, Botafogo, LDU, injured stars may return | OneFootball

Midfielder Marcos Antonio is not expected to take long to return to games (Photo: Paulo Pinto/SPFC)

MARCIO MONTEIRO

@avantmtricolor

São Paulo has a rare 'full week' just for rest, training, and recovery of its players. Eliminated from the Copa do Brasil, the club focuses on the Brasileirão and rushes to recover many from its extensive list of injured players.

After a day off on Monday (25), Hernán Crespo's squad resumes activities on the afternoon of this Tuesday (26), with training starting at 4 PM at the Barra Funda training center.

Then, there will be three more days of work until the departure to Belo Horizonte (MG) on Friday night (29) on a chartered flight.

At Mineirão, they visit Cruzeiro at 9 PM (Brasília time), for the 22nd round of the Brazilian Championship, on Saturday (30). With a return flight to São Paulo after the match, there is a general break for the FIFA Date.

The period for national team games and training starts next Monday (1/9) and goes until September 9, when the called-up players play their last matches for their countries. The Tricolor will not have Tapia, called by Chile, and probably Bobadilla and Ferraresi, two others usually called up by Paraguay and Venezuela.

THE NAMES IN THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT

Meanwhile, São Paulo will continue its training routine, especially working with the extensive list of injured players: Luiz Gustavo (pulmonary thromboembolism), Calleri (left knee surgery), Ryan (left knee surgery), Oscar (fracture of three lumbar vertebrae), Wendell (injury in the posterior region of the left thigh), Arboleda (injury in the rectus femoris muscle of the left thigh), and Alisson (hip pain).

These only until before the victory over the Minas Gerais team, when São Paulo, in its terrible phase (the 99th...), gained two more names for the medical department, starters Marcos Antonio and André Silva.

The midfielder was diagnosed with a muscle injury in the posterior region of the left thigh, which took him out of the victory over Atlético-MG, and he will be out of the club for at least three weeks. The player has already started the recovery process at Reffis, and the expectation is that Marcos can be available to Hernán Crespo's technical staff for the duel with LDU, in the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores.

With André, the situation was worse. The club's top scorer of the year had a posterior cruciate ligament injury and a strain in the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. This Tuesday (26), accompanied by the club's doctor, Dr. Ricardo Galotti, the player will have a consultation with Dr. Moisés Cohen, Tricolor's medical consultant, when the treatment approach will be defined.

The recovery period for such injuries, without undergoing surgery, can vary between four and 12 weeks, complicating Hernán Crespo's life, who sees the third option for the position go to Reffis. Before André Silva, forwards Calleri and Ryan Francisco were already in the medical department, recovering from surgeries they had throughout the year. Of the two, the hope for a return this season is the veteran Argentine, who is already working on the field at the Barra Funda training center with physiotherapy.

Even before the number 9, Arboleda and Wendell are the closest to recovery at the club, having already started fieldwork, and may even be available against Cruzeiro depending on their recovery during the week.

THE LUCAS SAGA

And, besides the already nine injured names, there is the case of Lucas... The number 7 was spared from the last match in the Brasileirão, as part of the 'individualized schedule for strengthening and load control', as informed by São Paulo and confirmed by Crespo. The idol is in the rehabilitation process after a strain in the posterior capsule of the right knee and may also miss the next weekend's match.

Then, there will be two weeks until the commitment for the 23rd round, against Botafogo, again at Morumbi, still without a confirmed date by the CBF, but on the weekend of September 13 and 14.

It's time to speed up some important returns because on the 18th, São Paulo begins its quarter-final clash in the Copa Libertadores against Ecuadorians LDU.

Wendell, Arboleda, Alisson, Marcos Antonio, and Lucas Moura are names the club expects to be fully fit to defend the Tricolor in the fight for a spot in the semifinals of the much-desired continental competition. We should not forget defender Rafael Tolói, another who should also be 100%, besides Maílton, a newly signed full-back, who still faces bureaucracy but is already in game rhythm and working at the training center.

And until then, who knows, there might be some 'market opportunity' for the Tricolor to sign another player to strengthen the injury-ridden squad throughout the year, a routine already too exhausting for São Paulo fans.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.