Corinthians great on Depay’s Libertadores penalty miss, recalls 2012 | OneFootball

Former center-back Chicão, a Corinthians idol who played for the club for six seasons, recently gave an interview to TNT Sports and was asked about striker Memphis Depay’s current situation. The No. 10 recently missed a penalty that ended up eliminating Alvinegro in the Conmebol Libertadores quarterfinals — a 1-0 defeat to Estudiantes-ARG at Neo Química Arena.

“There’s a lot going on off the field. Even the contract renewal, and then he gets an opportunity to make his mark with a penalty. And, like I said: I watched everything about the penalty — his body positioning, the strike on the ball, the planted foot. So you could see he was a little too far from the ball, and he ended up missing the penalty, but we know the biggest players are always the ones who get blamed. And today, being one of the leaders in the group, he’s going to be held accountable, and I’ll be rooting for him too. Hopefully he can get back to his best form and help the club, just like he did in that run in 2024, qualifying for the Libertadores preliminary stage,” he said.

The Dutchman, despite not being at his best right now, has been crucial since arriving at Parque São Jorge, especially in the team’s surge in the 2024 Brasileirão (from the relegation zone to the Libertadores preliminary stage), and he was also decisive in winning the Campeonato Paulista (2025), Copa do Brasil (2025), and Supercopa do Brasil (2026), against Palmeiras, Vasco da Gama, and Flamengo, respectively. Altogether, he has 20 goals and 16 assists in 86 matches wearing the Corinthians shirt. His contract runs until July 2028.

This season, he has been dealing with physical problems both at Corinthians, where he was sidelined for two months with a muscle injury, and with the Netherlands. For the Oranje, his participation in the 2026 World Cup was affected by the injury issues mentioned. In the world’s biggest international tournament, he played three matches, all as a substitute, and recorded one assist.

Later, the former defender recalled Corinthians’ unbeaten and historic 2012 Libertadores title, defeating Boca Juniors of Argentina in the final. In the first leg, at La Bombonera, the match ended 1-1. In the second leg, at Pacaembu, Corinthians won 2-0, with both goals scored by striker Emerson Sheik.

“There’s a special moment, which is the end of the match against Boca Juniors at Pacaembu. I drop to my knees, Alessandro (former right-back), and we hug, because we arrived in 2008 (in Serie B), at a time when the club was rebuilding, and then you give that title to the fans, and that’s priceless, because it was a title the fans didn’t have, they got mocked in the streets for not having a Libertadores, and we achieved that,” he stated.

Chicão’s numbers for Corinthians

Signed at the beginning of 2008 for the second-division campaign, the center-back took the field in a Corinthians shirt 247 times, recording 140 wins, 66 draws, and 41 losses — a 65.6% success rate. In addition, he won seven titles: Serie B (2008), Campeonato Paulista (2009 and 2013), Copa do Brasil (2009), Brasileirão (2011), Libertadores (2012), and Club World Cup (2012). In total, he scored 42 goals (the second-highest scoring center-back in Timão history) and provided seven assists.

Looking back at the Libertadores campaign and prize money earned

It is worth remembering that Corinthians qualified for the knockout stage of the 2026 Conmebol Libertadores as leaders of Group E with 11 points — three wins, two draws, and one loss — with eight goals scored and four conceded. The group also included Peñarol-URU, Santa Fe-COL, and Platense-ARG.

In the round of 16, they eliminated Rosario Central-ARG with a 1-0 aggregate win. In the first match, in Argentina, there was a goalless draw. In the return leg, in Itaquera, they won by the minimum margin. In the quarterfinals, however, elimination came. In the first leg against Estudiantes, away from home, the match ended 1-1. In the return leg, finally, they lost 1-0, with Memphis Depay missing a penalty in the last play of the game.

Alvinegro bowed out of the tournament with nearly R$ 26 million in its coffers. Since Corinthians’ historic unbeaten title in 2012, Timão’s best campaigns in the international tournament came in 2022 and 2026 — both quarterfinal appearances. In 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018, Alvinegro fell in the round of 16. In 2020 and 2025, they were eliminated in the preliminary stage.

Corinthians now only have the Brazilian Championship left to play until the end of the season and will need to start picking up points again to move away from the relegation zone. On October 7, Wednesday, Alvinegro, looking to win after six defeats in the competition, will visit Internacional at Beira-Rio Stadium for the 29th round of the national tournament. At the moment, Timão sit only 14th with 32 points — eight wins, eight draws, and 12 losses — with 29 goals scored and 32 conceded. The team from Rio Grande do Sul is in 18th place, inside the relegation zone, with 28.

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