Kaio César rues Platense defeat, cites no focus at Neo Química Arena | OneFootball

Corinthians were beaten 2-0 by Argentina’s Platense on Wednesday night (27) at Neo Química Arena, in the sixth and final round of the 2026 Conmebol Libertadores group stage. Despite the home loss, Timão finished the first phase at the top of Group E, with 11 points, eight goals scored, and four conceded.

After the final whistle, in the mixed zone, forward Kaio César spoke about the team’s performance and said that Corinthians’ main problem in the match was a lack of concentration throughout the 90 minutes.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Corinthians Agency

“I think we needed a little more concentration. I think concentration was lacking today. Like you said, it was a game in which we had already qualified in first place, and I think we let that affect us a little in terms of concentration, which meant being a bit more focused on the game, taking the match a bit more seriously, because we needed to win so we could decide the knockout matches at home. But today, unfortunately, nothing worked for us. Now we have to keep our heads up, because on Saturday we have a big game ahead of us,” he said.

The forward also revealed the instructions he received from coach Fernando Diniz at halftime. Kaio came on in the second half in an attempt to give Corinthians more attacking intensity.

“He told me to try to unlock the game, take the game to them, try to break lines, help my teammates in the best way possible, which is by going at defenders, dribbling, winning fouls, and scoring goals. I couldn’t do it, but that’s what he asks of me: to unlock the game, play out wide, along the flank, which is my strong point. Unfortunately, we couldn’t leave here with today’s result. Now we have to keep our heads up because, like I said, there’s a big game on Saturday,” he commented.

During the mixed zone interview, Kaio was also asked about the expectations created by the fans regarding Corinthians’ Libertadores campaign, especially because of comparisons with the historic 2012 run.

“We weren’t thinking much about that 2012 campaign. We were thinking about our own campaign, and now it’s our turn to compete in the Libertadores. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the win today. Like I said, we wanted to play the final-stage matches at home, but we’ll see what happens. And, as I also said, now we have to keep our heads up because on Saturday we really need to win,” he stated.

Finally, the player spoke about the team’s overall performance and ruled out pointing only to a physical or technical issue as the reason for the negative result against the Argentine side.

“I believe what was missing was concentration. A little bit of everything was lacking. We let ourselves down technically, tactically, offensively, and defensively. I believe that if we had been more focused today, we wouldn’t have let that get in the way. But unfortunately, nothing worked today. There are days in football when it’s like that—nothing works. Now we have to keep our heads up,” he concluded.

Corinthians now turn their attention to the Brazilian Championship. Fernando Diniz’s side will next face Grêmio on Saturday (30), before the break for the World Cup.

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