Corinthians defender: Artificial turf, healthy defensive rivalry

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Central do Timão

·20 de febrero de 2026

Corinthians defender: Artificial turf, healthy defensive rivalry

By Henrique Pereira / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the evening of last Thursday (20th), Corinthians faced Athletico-PR at Arena da Baixada in a postponed match from the second round of the Brazilian Championship, and won 1-0, with the goal scored by Argentine midfielder Rodrigo Garro. After the match, defender André Ramalho, who came on in the second half, was asked about how the team will approach their next commitment of the season and emphasized that the squad needs greater physical care after playing on synthetic turf.

“We’ll find out. We have these days to recover, but we have a qualified squad, a large squad, where we have been showing our quality and, of course, this pitch, in fact, once again, we need a bit more time to recover, it’s very hard, but I’m sure we have a lot of capable people within the club to help us recover, so that everyone can be 100% for the weekend’s game.”, said the defender in the stadium’s mixed zone.

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Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Ag. Corinthians

The number 5 was also asked about the controversies involving the refereeing in the match, but preferred not to go into detail. Corinthians saw the referee award a penalty to Athletico-PR in the first half and the players complained about a possible sending off for a foul suffered by Memphis.

“What I said there, I don’t want to get into any kind of controversy, of course there are one or two decisions we disagree with, that’s something that will happen, there’s no way around it, but I’d rather get ahead of that question, because I don’t think it’s worth it for us to keep harping on the same point all the time.”, pointed out André Ramalho.

The defender also spoke about the competition for a starting spot in his position after the arrival of Gabriel Paulista, who has been starting alongside Gustavo Henrique. The player stated that the competition is healthy and benefits the club.

“Healthy, as it should be, in the end we always have to give our best for the club, for the institution, for the fans, for ourselves, so that’s what I have to do, what all the players have to do, I think we’ve been doing that very well, I’ll keep working to always give my best for the club, in the end it’s up to Dorival and the coaching staff to decide who they put in the game, in a certain type of game or not, so today they ended up choosing Gustavo and Gabriel in my position and it’s up to me to keep working, giving my best so that I can obviously be on the field as many games as possible.”, concluded the defender.

Corinthians now turns its focus to the Paulista Championship. Next Sunday (22), at 8:30 pm (Brasília time), the Alvinegro visits Portuguesa at Canindé, for the quarterfinals of the state championship. In the Brazilian Championship, the club from Parque São Jorge will return to the pitch next Wednesday (25), at 8 pm, to face Cruzeiro at Mineirão, for the fourth round of the national competition.

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