Corinthians No 10 on major club milestone and Emily Lima's start | OneFootball

On the night of last Friday (27), Corinthians faced Botafogo at Nilton Santos Stadium in a match valid for the fifth round of the first phase of the 2026 Brazilian Women’s Championship, and won 3-1. The positive result put the team in fourth place in the overall table with 10 points earned — three wins, one draw, and one loss — with 12 goals scored and six conceded.

Moments after the final whistle, midfielder Gabi Zanotti, who scored Corinthians’ second goal in the match, spoke to the press in the mixed zone and commented on the remarkable milestone reached at the club. The Brabas’ No. 10, alongside former forward Grazi, became the player with the most appearances for the club in the history of the women’s team (258). She has been at Parque São Jorge since 2018.

Photo: Rodrigo Gazzanel/Agência Corinthians

“It’s a very special milestone, it means a lot. I’m very happy to match this mark, Grazi is a great reference here, for everything she achieved, for always being a leader, she is an example to everyone, and I’m very happy to match her mark,” she began.

She then assessed head coach Emily Lima’s start to the job and the team’s progress in recent matches. In three games so far, there have been two wins — in the last two matches — and one loss. The coach was announced at the end of February to replace Lucas Piccinato, who left the position on the 20th of last month.

“I think we’ve improved with every match, every week we’ve managed to put all of her (Emily’s) game ideas into practice. So I’m very happy, taking it step by step, once again we managed to move up the table with the three points, which was today’s objective, but there is still a lot to improve. We know it still takes a lot of time because they are different behaviors, but I’m very happy with the progress of our work and very optimistic about what we can do this year,” she continued.

Right after that, she spoke about the differences between the roles she had under Lucas Piccinato and the ones she has been performing at Corinthians under the new coaching staff. She highlighted the greater freedom of movement she has been given. It is worth remembering that Zanotti is the team’s top scorer at the start of 2026, with five goals in seven matches.

“There have been some changes in behavior. I can also drift more between the lines; I also did that with the previous staff, but I’ve really liked the freedom she has given me to play, attack the space in behind, drift between the lines at times to confuse the opposition. Today the marking was more man-to-man, so I was able to draw and manipulate the opposing center-backs a little more, and I think that made our game easier. That’s what she showed me by watching the videos, and I’m happy not only with my performance today, but with everything the team did,” she went on.

Lastly, she was asked about the artificial turf at Nilton Santos Stadium and gave her assessment of Corinthians’ performance in the match. The midfielder spoke about the team’s good start and, consequently, the first half, but pointed out that collectively the team began the second half in a “dispersed” way and stressed the need to stay focused for the full 90 minutes.

“I personally have a lot of issues involving artificial turf, but I prefer playing on artificial turf than on a field full of holes, where the ball doesn’t roll and the grass is high. I think we managed to play well, we like this faster pitch and it helped our circulation. I liked the team’s behavior, especially in the first 30 minutes of the first half, with a lot of aggressiveness.”

“Then I think we dropped off a little in the second half as well. We started well, scored after 50 seconds, and then let it slip. We have to pay more attention on restarts; we conceded a goal from a ball coming out of the goalkeeper’s hand. We have to try to have everyone switched on for the full 90 minutes; we know that conceding a goal can make a difference, can hurt our goal difference. We have to stay switched on for the whole 90 minutes,” she concluded.

Now, the Brabas will have a one-week break until their next match and remain focused on the national competition. Emily Lima’s team will face Red Bull Bragantino next Friday (3) at 9 p.m. (Brasília time), in a match valid for the sixth round of the first phase of the 2026 Brazilian Women’s Championship.

Still this year, in addition to the national tournament, they will also compete in: the Copa do Brasil, Campeonato Paulista, Conmebol Libertadores, and the Teal Rising Cup.

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