Hugo Souza on Corinthians training spell and two years at club | OneFootball

Corinthians continued its training schedule this Friday during the midseason break and reached its ninth consecutive day of activities at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava. After the session, goalkeeper Hugo Souza spoke about the training period and stressed the importance of making the most of this game-free stretch to return strongly to the Brazilian Championship.

“That’s what this moment is all about right now. You have to leave tired every day, you have to train, you have to recover your fitness as quickly as possible, and we’ve been giving it everything we can. We’ve been having good training sessions, and we’ve been able to reach the physical levels we need. We’ve also been able, within that, to already implement everything the coach wants, so we’re also very happy in this period to be back, to be in our day-to-day again. We missed it, and now this is the time to bleed a little so that we can come back as strong as possible,” said the Corinthians goalkeeper.

Photo: Rodrigo Gazzanel / Corinthians Agency

Next, Hugo Souza also spoke about the milestone of two years wearing the Corinthians shirt, reached last Thursday, the 2nd. The 27-year-old goalkeeper celebrated the achievement and commented on the importance of the Alvinegro Paulista not only in his career, but also in his personal life.

“It’s been two years since I arrived at this club, two incredible years. I think they’re two years that changed my life, two years that led me to achieve things, and when I talk about things, I’m not just talking about titles, but things in my personal life too: respect, affection, people’s admiration. I think that’s the most important thing. I think being able to look out there and see that these fans feel that way about me means so much to me,” said the player.

“So I’m very happy to have reached such an important milestone, and may more titles come, more years, and God willing, may we continue being very happy here wearing this shirt at this club. I arrived one way and today I’m another, so I’m very happy with everything I’m achieving here,” he added.

Although he was officially announced by Corinthians on July 2, 2024, Hugo Souza had to wait a few days to play his first match for the club. His debut came on July 16, in the win over Criciúma in the Brazilian Championship. In a short time, the goalkeeper established himself among the starters and won over the black-and-white fans.

His strong performances led the board to exercise the purchase option with Flamengo. With help from master sponsor Esportes da Sorte, Corinthians paid 800,000 euros — around R$ 4.8 million at the exchange rate at the time — to secure the goalkeeper’s permanent stay.

Since then, the No. 1 has built an outstanding path at Parque São Jorge. So far, he has made 123 appearances for Timão, with 58 wins, 35 draws and 30 losses, and was also an important piece in the 2025 Campeonato Paulista and Copa do Brasil titles, as well as the 2026 Supercopa do Brasil.

Another factor that strengthened Hugo’s bond with the fans was his performances in penalty shootouts. Since arriving at the club, the goalkeeper has already saved 14 penalties, a mark that puts him alone in third place among the players who have saved the most penalties in Corinthians’ history.

Those great performances even fueled expectations of a call-up to the Brazilian National Team for the World Cup. However, the goalkeeper’s name ended up being left out of the final squad put together by coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Currently, Hugo Souza remains involved in the midseason training work at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava under Fernando Diniz. Before the official return to the pitch in the Brazilian Championship, Corinthians will have a friendly against FC Cascavel, scheduled for July 12 at 4 p.m. at Estádio Olímpico Regional, in Cascavel, Paraná.

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