Corinthians director on Memphis missing away game: "That's football" | OneFootball

Fabinho Soldado, football executive of Corinthians, spoke about the absence of Memphis Depay in Corinthians' 3-0 defeat to Cruzeiro last Sunday. The Dutchman was diagnosed with bone edema in his left knee and was not included in the squad by coach Dorival Júnior.

An interesting statistic caught the attention of fans. Memphis Depay played in only three of Corinthians' 13 matches outside the state of São Paulo in the current edition of the Brazilian Championship. Fabinho Soldado, however, believes these numbers are just a coincidence.

“These are situations that happened, and this absence was just another one. Two tests were done that detected something there, and the medical staff decided he shouldn't play. We have to deal with these situations. We'll see how things go during the week, talk to the medical team, but treatment has already started. It's football, it happens,” evaluated the football executive in an exclusive interview with the program Mesa Redonda, on TV Gazeta.

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Outside São Paulo in the Brasileirão, Memphis only played against Flamengo (sixth round), when he left injured. After that, he played against Botafogo (17th round) and Vitória (30th round). In the Copa do Brasil, he also played in Curitiba against Athletico-PR.

In the other matches, Memphis was sidelined due to minor injuries. In April, he suffered two traumas, one to his right foot and another to his right ankle. In May, he suffered a sprain to his right ankle. In August, the forward sustained a muscle injury in his right thigh, a scenario that repeated itself between September and October. In total, there have already been six injuries this season.

“That's why we talk about squad depth, we need to strengthen the team even more over time, because there are countless competitions and players get injured. They may not be in the best phase, and the rotation is very high,” highlighted Fabinho.

Dorival also responds about Memphis

Corinthians coach Dorival Júnior also commented on the situation of Memphis Depay. He was asked if the Dutchman would have played ‘sacrificing himself’ if last Sunday’s match had been a Copa do Brasil semifinal, in which Timão will face Cruzeiro.

Dorival was categorical in his response: “No, he [Memphis] would not have been on the field. He was ruled out by the medical department. Unfortunately it happened, and we have to understand, even from the tests, everything was confirmed,” declared the coach at the press conference.

What remains now for Corinthians is to pick up the pieces and prepare for the final stretch of the Brazilian Championship and also for the Copa do Brasil semifinal. The first match is scheduled for December 10, with Cruzeiro as the home team, while the second leg will take place on the 14th, at Neo Química Arena.

Memphis' numbers for Corinthians

Upcoming Corinthians matches

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