São Paulo and Santos debut with victory at Paulista – 01/20/2024 – Sports

São Paulo defeated Santo André 3-1 on Saturday night (20), at Morumbi. The goals went to Lucas, Luciano and Diego Costa, for the home team; Cleo Silva did that for the visitors.

Playing at home, Thiago Carpini’s team went all out and got a penalty right at the beginning of the match, in the 2nd minute, when Lucas was brought down inside the area. He himself hit goalkeeper Luiz Daniel’s right corner to open the scoring. The team from the capital was much superior in the match.

At 22, however, Santo André equalized with Cléo Silva, who completed a cross from the right with a header.

But Luciano, at 38, finishing powerfully from the edge of the area, after an assist from Lucas, and Diego Costa, at 41, heading in after a corner kick, gave the Morumbi team a 3-1 lead in the first half. The partial score did justice to the performance.

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The second half was more tepid. São Paulo, again, dominated the actions, but created less than in the first stage. Caprini promoted the debut of Ferreirinha, Erick and Luiz Gustavo, signed for this season. The first, in fact, had the chance to score the fourth, in stoppage time, after a great pass from Galoppo, but shot wide.

With the result, the Morumbi team provisionally leads Group D of the competition, with 3 points. Novorizontino, São Bernardo and Botafogo-SP are also in the key.

Teams from the same group do not face each other in the Paulista competition formula. In the end, the two best placed teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals, where they will face each other. São Paulo was eliminated in the quarterfinals at last year’s Paulista, by Água Santa, on penalties.

São Paulo returns to the field on Tuesday (23), at 9:30 pm, when it visits Mirassol, while Santo André hosts Novorizontino on Thursday (25), at 9 pm.

More importantly, São Paulo has the Brazilian Super Cup final, against Palmeiras, on February 4th, in two weeks.

Santos debuts with victory over Botafogo-SP

Santos also debuted with a victory at Paulista. They beat Botafogo-SP 1-0 on Saturday night (20), in Ribeirão Preto. The goal was by Rómulo Otero.

With a completely reformulated team compared to the one that was relegated to Série B of the Brazilian Championship in December —among the players who played frequently in 2023, only João Paulo, Joaquim and Furch started the match—, Santos found a balanced confrontation in the first half .

His best chances came from passes from debutant Giuliano, ex-Corinthians. In the first, Pedrinho kicked out, and in the second, Guilherme stopped at the goalkeeper of the interior team, João Carlos.

Botafogo, in turn, almost reached the goal with Leandro Pereira, ex-Palmeiras, who completed a cross from the left but shot wide.

Fábio Carille’s team returned to the second stage looking to apply pressure. He had chances with Pituca and Julio Furch, both with headers and saved by João Carlos.

The goal came in the 26th minute, from a change by Fabio Carille. Venezuelan Otero, who had recently joined, received a good pass from Giuliano, dominated and, in a kind of volley, found the net for the Ribeirão Preto team.

The local team even attempted pressure in the last minutes, with crosses and corners, but were unable to achieve a draw.

Santos now leads Paulista Group A, with three points. The bracket also includes Ituano, Portuguesa and Santo André. The team from the coast of São Paulo has not been able to pass the first phase since 2020.

Santos returns to the field on Thursday (25), when they host Ponte Preta, at 7:30 pm. Botafogo-SP faces Água Santa, away from home, on Tuesday (23), at 9:30 pm.