Corinthians boss worried about fitness ahead of Paulistão decider | OneFootball

Corinthians defeated Athletico 1-0, with a goal by Rodrigo Garro, in a Brasileirão match held at Arena da Baixada last Thursday (19th). After the match, coach Dorival Júnior held a press conference and, while discussing the team's fatigue, emphasized that the characteristics of the synthetic turf contribute to greater physical exhaustion.

“It's not about losing physically, but certainly physically we won't be up to the demands of the game we have on Sunday. I have no doubt about that. We are not used to playing on a pitch like this. You can be sure that our recovery, the pains will be much greater than if it were played on a normal pitch. This is a point that I have no doubt will have a significant impact on Sunday's match.”

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Ag. Corinthians

“The fatigue from today's match will be much greater than what happened in the match on Sunday, the previous one. You can be sure. The accumulation now will weigh heavily and we will face many difficulties. But we will try to overcome them in every way”, concluded the coach, highlighting the main challenges for the decision against Portuguesa.

When discussing the rotation in lineups, the coach once again emphasized the importance of having a large and qualified squad.

“That's why I insist that we need to have a more complete squad so that we can have alternatives, which we have been doing frequently, fielding one team on Wednesday and another team on Sunday. So that we can at least have a recovered team on the field. This is fundamental. And trained. This has been very crucial for all of us. Teams have had various lineups in all matches; we have changed practically in all of them. Rare were the ones where we managed the same lineups. And the team has responded positively”, Dorival pondered.

Timão returns to the field this Sunday (22), at 8:30 PM (Brasília time), when they face Portuguesa at Canindé, for the quarterfinals of the Campeonato Paulista.

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