Despite the heavy rain, Corinthians and São Paulo produced an excellent match. Let me start by mentioning the return of the black-and-white striped jersey, which I’ve always considered the most beautiful of all. The victory was crucial for Corinthians to start a run of good results and distance themselves from the relegation zone.
On the pitch, I saw a fantastic Rodrigo Garro, who constantly delivered quality passes and took the corner that led to Raniele’s headed goal.
In that play, Luciano, instead of jumping to contest the ball, tried to win a non-existent foul, and São Paulo ended up conceding the goal. After that, Roger Machado’s team balanced the match until they equalized through an absurd mistake caused by Fernando Diniz’s reckless insistence on playing out from the back. With the field completely wet, slippery, and prone to errors—all happening inside the box—the risk was enormous. Raniele allowed Bobadilla to get too close, which proved fatal. The ball fell to Luciano, who didn’t miss and leveled the score—deservedly so, but it was a classic giveaway.
Then chaos erupted, with some “stupid” fans throwing objects onto the field, hitting Calleri. Amid the turmoil, an image emerged showing Bobadilla allegedly making an obscene gesture. Football has entered a phase where players make such gestures, like Allan against Fluminense and André against Palmeiras, both of whom were sent off. Today, it took about seven minutes to decide whether Bobadilla had done the same. In my view, he came very close to making an obscene gesture.
The match had been fantastic, with both sides attacking relentlessly, but all this confusion dampened the players’ enthusiasm. The end of the first half became very dull, yet up until the disturbance, the game was highly entertaining.
Before the second half began, the same fans threw objects at Luciano’s goal and showered paper rolls onto the field, exactly in the area where Rafael would defend. Today, a portion of the crowd made things much harder for Corinthians, as the potential punishment is significant.
When the second half started, it took only seven minutes for Corinthians to score again, with a stunning diagonal strike from Matheuzinho. This happened because Corinthians controlled the game comfortably, with Matheus Bidu, Carrillo, Bidon, and Garro shining in the beautiful build-up to the third goal. It was a classic exchange of passes, with Garro’s intelligence spotting Breno Bidon alone at the edge of the box and delivering the pass for the youngster to control and finish with class.
At that point, Corinthians had total dominance in midfield, playing with more intensity, pressing, and control. While Diniz’s team had Raniele, Bidon, and Carrillo—who both defend and play—Roger had Danielzinho and Bobadilla. Playing against Corinthians with wingers as wide as Arthur and Ferreirinha is a huge risk, as it leaves the midfield exposed. São Paulo should have started with a more balanced midfield, since Diniz sets up his system for Garro to focus solely on creativity. That’s why he has evolved so much recently.
Corinthians completely dominated the second half. And in this classic against São Paulo, Fernando Diniz shined—only that one mistake aside.