Corinthians back unbeaten run v Santa Fe to end Arena drought | OneFootball

Corinthians return to action in the Copa Libertadores on Wednesday night. Timão face Santa Fe at 9:30 p.m. (Brasília time) and are banking on their historic unbeaten record against the Colombian side to end an uncomfortable winless streak at Neo Química Arena. The match is valid for the second round of Group E in the continental competition.

Despite their reputation as a strong home side, Corinthians are going through a rough patch on their own ground. They have now gone two months without a win at Neo Química Arena.

In total, there have been four matches in that span, with defeats to Coritiba and Internacional — the latter resulting in the dismissal of then-Timão head coach Dorival Júnior. In addition to those games, the São Paulo side drew with Flamengo and Palmeiras in Itaquera.

The poor results at the Arena leave Corinthians as the worst home team in the Brazilian Championship so far, with only five points from six matches in the competition, for a 27.7% success rate.

See also: All Gazeta Esportiva news Gazeta Esportiva’s YouTube channel Follow Gazeta Esportiva on Instagram Join Gazeta Esportiva’s WhatsApp channel 

A trump card for victory

Now, against Santa Fe, Corinthians are counting on their track record against the Colombian team to finally put an end to this drought. Timão have never been beaten by their opponents, with three wins and two draws against the club from Bogotá.

The most recent meetings between the teams came 10 years ago, in the group stage of the 2016 Libertadores. On that occasion, Corinthians beat the Colombians 1-0 at Neo Química Arena and drew 1-1 away at Estadio Nemesio Camacho.

The other clashes, however, are older. In 1963, Corinthians visited Santa Fe for a pair of friendly matches and, in both, Timão came out on top 1-0. Earlier still, in 1954, the teams also met in a friendly in Colombia and drew 2-2.

Group situation

With the win over Platense last week, Corinthians were the only team in Group E to collect three points in the opening round of the tournament. As a result, they lead the group with a two-point advantage over Peñarol, who drew with third-placed Santa Fe. Platense are fourth and still without a point.

If they beat Santa Fe, Timão could open up as much as a four-point lead at the top of the group. For that to happen, they also need Peñarol and Platense to draw when they meet at 9:30 p.m. this Thursday.

Match details

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