Corinthians host Santos in Brasileirão, keen to avoid first since 2018 | OneFootball

On Sunday afternoon (30), at 4 p.m. (Brasília time), Corinthians will host Santos at Neo Química Arena in a match valid for the 25th round of the 2026 Brazilian Championship. Currently, the club from Parque São Jorge sits 10th in the national competition with 32 points, with eight wins, eight draws, and eight losses — 26 goals scored and 24 conceded.

Timão heads into the match on the back of two straight defeats in the national competition. On August 16, a Sunday, the team was beaten 2-1 by Cruzeiro at Neo Química Arena and missed the chance to move closer to the fight for a top-five spot in the Brasileirão. Then, on the 23rd, Alvinegro traveled to Couto Pereira Stadium to face Coritiba and ended up losing by the same score.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

As a result, Corinthians suffered back-to-back losses in the tournament for the first time since April, when, still coached by Dorival Júnior, they lost 3-1 to Fluminense at the Maracanã and then were beaten by Internacional by the narrowest of margins in Itaquera, in a match that marked a change in Corinthians’ technical command.

Against Santos, the club from Parque São Jorge will try to avoid a third straight loss in the Brasileirão, something that has not happened in the tournament since August 2018. That year, Timão fought against relegation after seeing the championship-winning squad from the previous year dismantled and because of its second-half performances, losing to Chapecoense (A – 2 x 1), Fluminense (A – 1 x 0), and Grêmio (H – 0 x 1).

Before 2018, the last time had been in 2010, when Timão let the national title slip through its fingers. On that occasion, in October of that year, with Adilson Batista in charge after Mano Menezes took over the Brazilian national team, Corinthians strung together defeats against Atlético-MG (A – 2 x 1), Atlético-GO (H – 3 x 4), and Vasco da Gama (A – 2 x 0).

To avoid such a feat after such a long time, Corinthians is leaning on a long unbeaten run against Santos at Neo Química Arena. The last time the team from Baixada Santista beat Timão in Itaquera was in February 2022, when it came from behind to win 2-1 in a match that marked Sylvinho’s dismissal from Alvinegro’s technical command. Since then, Corinthians has recorded four wins and two draws — 10 goals scored and three conceded.

The derby also represents an opportunity for Corinthians to improve its overall numbers, and its numbers this year, in matches against state rivals at Neo Química Arena. With a win in this round, Alvinegro would reach 35 points and could climb, at most, to eighth place. Massa Bruta has the same number of points, but would still hold the advantage in number of wins, with 10. To move up two positions, Corinthians would also need Coritiba (34 points) and Atlético-MG (33 points) to slip up.

Corinthians have not lost to Santos at Neo Química Arena since February 2022

*Corinthians 1 x 2 Santos – Campeonato Paulista – Sylvinho dismissed

Since then:

1) Corinthians 4 x 0 Santos – Copa do Brasil 20222) Corinthians 0 x 0 Santos – Brasileirão 20223) Corinthians 1 x 1 Santos – Brasileirão 20234) Corinthians 2 x 1 Santos – Paulistão 20255) Corinthians 2 x 1 Santos – Paulistão 20256) Corinthians 1 x 0 Santos – Brasileirão 2025

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