After the international break, trio target first minutes for Corinthians | OneFootball

Corinthians, in addition to their poor run on the pitch — with six straight defeats in the Brazilian Championship and no wins in their last seven matches this season — also have players who are performing below expectations. Left-back Hugo Farias, defensive midfielder Alex Santana, and attacking midfielder Vitinho are the only players in the current Corinthians squad who have not yet played any minutes under coach Fernando Diniz in the second half of the year. The first and third are under contract only until the end of this year, while the second still has one more year left on his deal.

Midfielder Alex Santana, since being reintegrated into the Corinthians squad in mid-April, has taken the field only twice. The first was at the beginning of May, when he played nine minutes in the 2-1 away loss to Mirassol in the Brazilian Championship. He then played again only on July 12, in the friendly against FC Cascavel, which ended in a 1-1 draw in Paraná,

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

Image: Central do Timão

Left-back Hugo Farias, meanwhile, has made only three appearances this year, two in January and one in February, all in the Paulista Championship, still under Dorival Júnior. During that period, he was sidelined due to a serious knee injury. The No. 46, who competes for a spot with Matheus Bidu and Fabrizio Angileri, was named in the squad again only on August 9, when Timão beat Red Bull Bragantino 2-0 at Cícero de Souza Marques, in the 22nd round of the Brasileirão. Recently, he was among the substitutes but did not come on in the matches against Coritiba (A), Santos (H), Chapecoense (H), and Flamengo (A), all in the Brazilian Championship.

Finally, forward Vitinho is in a similar situation. In recent weeks, the No. 11 fully recovered from a meniscus injury in his left knee, suffered in the first half of the year, and was named in the squad again only on August 13, in the match against Flamengo at the Maracanã Stadium, in the 27th round of the 2026 Brazilian Championship. He has not played since April 30, when Corinthians beat Uruguay’s Peñarol 2-0 in a Conmebol Libertadores group-stage match. On that day, he came on late in the game to replace Jesse Lingard and played only two minutes. Since then, the player had been recovering from hip pain and a hamstring tendon injury. On July 15, he began physical transition work, but a few days later ended up suffering the left knee meniscus injury.

The No. 11 also had a similar problem at the end of last year. On October 4, 2025, during Corinthians’ 3-0 win over Mirassol in Itaquera in the Brazilian Championship, the player injured the meniscus in his right knee, underwent arthroscopy, and returned to the pitch only on November 20 of that same year, in the 3-1 victory over São Paulo at Neo Química Arena, in the final stretch of the Brasileirão.

With the trio available, Corinthians, during the break in the calendar due to the FIFA international window, gave the players four days off. They will return to training at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava next Friday (25) to begin preparations for their next commitment of the season. On Wednesday, October 7, at 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time), Alvinegro will visit Internacional at Beira-Rio Stadium in the 29th round of the 2026 Brazilian Championship. At the moment, Timão sit only 14th with 32 points — eight wins, eight draws, and 12 defeats — with 29 goals scored and 32 conceded.

See below each player’s journey at Corinthians

Hugo Farias

This season, besides the match against Capivariano, Hugo Farias also played in two other Paulista Championship matches, against Red Bull Bragantino (A – 3-0 loss; 64 minutes) and Velo Clube (A – 1-0 win; 90 minutes). The full-back was signed by Corinthians at the beginning of 2024 after playing for Goiás between 2021 and 2023.

Since then, he has not managed to establish himself at the club, despite being regularly used during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. He is currently the third option in the position, behind Matheus Bidu and Fabrizio Angileri. In 75 appearances in a Corinthians shirt, he has not scored but has provided six assists, taking part in the club’s Paulista Championship (2025), Copa do Brasil (2025), and Supercopa do Brasil (2026) titles, against Palmeiras, Vasco da Gama, and Flamengo, respectively. During his first season at the club, he also took part in the team’s surge in the 2024 Brasileirão (from the relegation zone to the Libertadores preliminary round – seventh place with 56 points).

Alex Santana

Alex Santana was signed by Corinthians in July 2024 for around R$12 million from Athletico-PR to strengthen Timão, who at the time were fighting relegation in the Brazilian Championship. Even without being an undisputed starter, he was important in the team’s surge in the national competition — from the relegation zone to the Libertadores preliminary round.

At the start of the following year, he began the season playing regularly in the Paulista Championship, when Ramón and Emiliano Díaz rotated the squad. After winning the state title against Palmeiras, the player’s performances dropped and he gradually lost space in the team, especially after the arrival of Dorival Júnior, under whom he played only three matches — the last of them mentioned at the beginning of this article.

In mid-2025, he was loaned to Grêmio, who at that time were coached by Mano Menezes, to get more playing time. However, he struggled with physical problems and played only 10 matches — the last of them on October 4, in the 1-0 away loss to RB Bragantino in the Brasileirão. Only three of those games were as a starter. At the end of last year, the club from Rio Grande do Sul did not exercise the player’s purchase option and, consequently, Alex Santana returned to Corinthians.

Back at Parque São Jorge, Alex Santana reported back and initially trained separately from the rest of the Corinthians squad for a little over three months. In the last transfer window, the player drew interest, but chose not to leave, as he believed he would be able to regain space. After Dorival Júnior’s departure on April 5, along with the arrival of Fernando Diniz, the experienced player was reintegrated into the group, but so far has still not been given opportunities.

In a Corinthians shirt, the midfielder has 39 appearances, with 23 wins, 10 draws, and six defeats, as well as two goals scored. His contract with Alvinegro runs until December 2027. He was part of the Paulista Championship title (2025), against Palmeiras, and took part in the beginning of last year’s Copa do Brasil title run, against Vasco da Gama.

Vitinho

Vitinho was signed by Corinthians in August 2025 on a free transfer, after spells at Al-Ettifaq (2022/2023 to 2024/2025) and Al-Shabab (2023/2024 – on loan), with the approval of coach Dorival Júnior, who was in charge of Timão at the time and had already worked with the player at Flamengo in 2018. In a Corinthians shirt, he has one goal and four assists in 38 matches (13 as a starter) in a spell marked by some physical problems and inconsistency, which has prevented him from establishing himself as a starter.

His only goal for Corinthians came on February 22, 2026, when, in stoppage time, he scored a brilliant goal that took the match against Portuguesa at Canindé, in the Paulista Championship quarterfinals, to a penalty shootout. On that day, the Parque São Jorge club advanced to the semifinals after Hugo Souza proved decisive.

Besides the hip injury that kept him out of Timão’s recent matches, Vitinho had also suffered a meniscus injury in his right knee in October last year. He was sidelined for a little over a month. For Corinthians, he was part of the Copa do Brasil (2025) and Supercopa do Brasil (2026) title-winning squads, against Vasco da Gama and Flamengo, respectively. The player has also had spells at: Botafogo (where he came through the youth ranks), CSKA Moscow (Russia), Internacional, and Flamengo.

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