Defender starts for Corinthians again after nearly six months | OneFootball

Throughout the night this Sunday (6), Corinthians faced Chapecoense at Neo Química Arena in a match valid for the 26th round of the 2026 Brazilian Championship and was beaten 2-1. The Alvinegro’s goal was scored by left-back Matheus Bidu. The new setback dropped Timão to 11th place with 32 points — eight wins, eight draws, and 10 losses — with 27 goals scored and 27 conceded.

Besides the three points, the match was important for João Pedro Tchoca, who returned to the Corinthians starting lineup after nearly six months. His last appearance as a Timão starter had been on March 19, 2026, when Alvinegro was still managed by Dorival Júnior. On that occasion, he played the full 90 minutes against Chapecoense in a goalless draw at Arena Condá, in the seventh round of the Brazilian Championship. Today, the defender replaced Gabriel Paulista, who served a suspension for yellow-card accumulation.

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During that time, he even suffered an inguinal hernia injury that kept him off the pitch for practically five months, as he had to undergo surgery and complete the physical recovery process. He returned to training with the group after the 2026 World Cup break, in the first days of July. The No. 4 played for Timão again last August 16, in the 2-1 loss to Cruzeiro in Itaquera, in the 23rd round. On that day, he came off the bench to replace Gabriel Paulista.

Before returning to the pitch against the Minas Gerais side, he had already been among the substitutes in the matches against Remo (H), Bahia (A), Athletico-PR (H), Internacional (A), Internacional (H), RB Bragantino (A), and Rosario Central-ARG (A). Those matches were for the Brazilian Championship, the Copa do Brasil round of 16, and the Libertadores, respectively.

Four days after the match against Cruzeiro, he took the field in the second leg of the Libertadores quarterfinals against Rosario Central-ARG at home, in which Timão won 1-0 with a goal from midfielder Breno Bidon. The 22-year-old played 10 minutes and was brought on by coach Fernando Diniz to replace Bidon himself.

Against Chapecoense tonight, Tchoca stayed on the field for the full 90 minutes and, according to Sofascore, a sports statistics app, posted the following numbers in the match: two defensive contributions, 2/2 ground duels won, 1/4 aerial duels won, 85 touches, two fouls suffered, one key pass, 1/2 accurate long balls, and 74/80 accurate passes. His rating in the app was 6.5. It was the first time João Pedro started under Fernando Diniz, who was hired at the beginning of April.

In the current season, he has played eight matches, with one goal scored — in the 1-1 draw against Cruzeiro at Mineirão in the fourth round of the Brazilian Championship. In January, Corinthians had even agreed on his transfer to Torino of Italy, but the youngster failed the Italian club’s medical exams — despite coming off consecutive appearances for Timão — and ended up being reintegrated into the squad at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava.

João Pedro Tchoca was promoted to Corinthians’ first team after winning the 2024 Copa São Paulo de Futebol Jr against Cruzeiro in the final. That year, he formed a defensive partnership with Renato during the title run. Initially, in the main squad, he did not get many opportunities under Antônio Oliveira and Ramón Díaz. In August of that same year, he was loaned to Ceará for six months.

At the northeastern club, he played 10 matches and became a starter in the final stretch of Série B, playing an important role in Vozão’s promotion back to the top flight of Brazilian football after two seasons. At the beginning of 2025, he returned to Corinthians and started being used frequently by the Díaz family and later by Dorival Júnior, gaining importance in the squad setup.

Overall, wearing the Corinthians shirt, he has two goals and one assist in 38 matches (30 as a starter), with 19 wins, 12 draws, and only seven losses — a 60.5% success rate. In addition, he was part of the Paulista Championship and Copa do Brasil title-winning squads, against Palmeiras and Vasco da Gama, respectively. During the Super Cup triumph over Flamengo in Brasília, he was undergoing exams in Italy.

Shift in priority

In poor form in the Brazilian Championship, Corinthians now turns its priorities to the Conmebol Libertadores. That is because next Wednesday (9), at 9:30 p.m., Timão will visit Estudiantes of Argentina at Estádio Jorge Luis Hirschi, known as UNO, for the first leg of the international tournament’s quarterfinals. The return leg will be on the 16th, one week later, at the same time, at Neo Química Arena. Between the two matches, Alvinegro will also visit Flamengo next Sunday (13), at 4 p.m., at the Maracanã, for the 27th round of the Brazilian Championship.

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