How Athletico-PR are shaping up for Corinthians clash in the Brasileirão | OneFootball

Corinthians host Athletico-PR on Thursday night (30) at 7:30 p.m. at Neo Química Arena for the 21st round of the Brazilian Championship. While Timão are looking to move closer to the Libertadores qualification zone, the Paraná club is trying to keep up its good form and remain among the competition’s top teams.

With 36 points from 20 matches, Athletico begin the round in third place in the table. Their campaign consists of 11 wins, three draws, and six losses, with 28 goals scored and 19 conceded.

Photo: Disclosure / Athletico

The team coached by Odair Hellmann also comes into the match riding recent momentum. Furacão are unbeaten in their last five games, a stretch in which they beat Mirassol, Remo, São Paulo, and Internacional, in addition to drawing with Flamengo. In their last two away matches in the Brazilian Championship, they defeated Remo and São Paulo, showing improvement away from Arena da Baixada as well.

Also thinking about the rest of the season, Odair Hellmann chose to rest two starters. Left-back Lucas Esquivel, who felt ankle pain in the last round, and defensive midfielder Luiz Gustavo stayed in Curitiba for workload management ahead of the clashes against Vitória in the Copa do Brasil round of 16.

On the other hand, the coach will have center-back Arthur Dias back after he served a suspension against Internacional. Another new option should be Juan Camilo Portilla, who returns to the team after playing in the 2026 World Cup with the Colombian national team and appears to be the favorite to take the spot left by Luiz Gustavo.

Recovered from injury, Zapelli and Felipinho are available to the coaching staff again and are part of the squad traveling to São Paulo. The expectation is that Athletico will line up with Santos; Carlos Terán, Juan Felipe Aguirre and Arthur Dias; Gilberto Moraes (Benavídez), Jádson, Portilla and Claudinho; Leozinho, Kevin Viveros and Stiven Mendoza.

Former-player curse? Mendoza returns to Neo Química Arena

One of the main figures in the matchup will be Stiven Mendoza. The Colombian forward will face Corinthians at Neo Química Arena for the first time since leaving the club. Mendoza arrived at Parque São Jorge in 2015, signed after a spell in Indian football. At the time, he signed a four-season deal and became part of Tite’s squad. During his time at Corinthians, he played 31 matches, 16 of them as a starter. The forward scored three goals, provided two assists, and was part of the campaign that ended with the 2015 Brazilian Championship title.

Unable to establish himself among the starters, he was loaned to Chennaiyin of India, returned to Corinthians in 2016, and later went on loan to Bahia until the end of his contract. In 2018, he was transferred to Amiens of France. He later played for Ceará, Santos, Adana Demirspor, and León of Mexico before completing his move to Athletico-PR at the start of the 2025 season.

At 34, Mendoza is one of Athletico-PR’s main attacking references and comes into the clash in good form along with the team, which is looking to extend its unbeaten run in the Brasileirão against Corinthians.

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