Sao Paulo broke Bahia’s resilience late in the second half to win 1-0 at Morumbi on Saturday. After eleven games, they have only won twice in the campaign and are just four points clear of the relegation zone. On this occasion, Liziero scored the game-winning goal, converting Reinaldo’s cross with a header.
Despite the absence of Luan, Benitez, and Eder, Sao Paulo dominated the first half.
Patrick came close to putting the visitors ahead in the 13th minute after collecting a pass from Gilberto, but his effort was superbly saved by Diego, who cleared his attempt off the line with a header.
That opportunity boosted the hosts’ confidence, allowing Tricolor to become more dominant in possession of the ball as Bahia looked for quick counters. The home team had chances to take the lead courtesy to Gabriel Sara, Vitor Bueno, and Reinaldo’s efforts, but they didn’t pose a real threat and went into halftime with a score line of 0-0.
Sao Paulo came out in the second half determined to knock off Bahia and win. They spurned two goal-scoring opportunities in the first six minutes of the second period: the first, a Sara shot that ricocheted off the back of Matheus Bahia, and the second, a cross by Igor Vinicius that sailed wide. Crespo’s team had a number of further chances to take the lead, but none of them resulted in goals.
Bahia, on the other hand, continued to sit back and wait for a chance to break and launch a counterattack.
The closest Sao Paulo came to scoring was in the 81st minute, when Galeano failed to convert a one-on-one following a deflected pass from Benitez.
Late in extra time, the hosts were rewarded for their superiority when Reinaldo calmly dominated the midfield and played a fantastic pass to Liziero to make it 1-0.
Sao Paulo is back in action for Brasileiro on Saturday, this time at home against Fortaleza. Flamengo travels to Bahia. Before that, Sao Paulo will compete in the first round of the round of 16 against Racing at Morumbi on Tuesday night.
