Palmeiras begin preparations to face Athletico as Paulinho and Vitor Roque train | OneFootball

Palmeiras began Friday morning preparations for Sunday’s Brasileiro home match with Athletico at 18:30 Brasília time. According to Globo.com, Paulinho and Vitor Roque completed full training on the pitch alongside team-mates who played fewer than a half in Thursday’s Libertadores win over Sporting Cristal.

Vitor Roque, the No 9, has been out for three weeks with a left ankle injury. He is now pain free and has trained on the pitch since the start of the week, but the club left him out of the Libertadores squad to build conditioning and confidence.

The expectation at the Academia de Futebol is that he will be named in the squad on Sunday.

Paulinho remains in physical reconditioning. Out since July after a second surgery on his right leg, his workload has increased this month and he again worked with the group.

Jefté, sidelined with a right thigh muscle injury, has started the transition from fitness to technical work before clearance to return.

Abel Ferreira will lead one more session on Saturday at the Academia de Futebol. He must change the line-up, with Marlon Freitas suspended for yellow-card accumulation. Abel, punished by the STJD, will also not be on the bench.

Palmeiras top the Brasileiro after 11 games on 26 points, six clear of Flamengo, São Paulo, Fluminense and Bahia. Flamengo have a game in hand, as do Bahia.

Source: Globo.com