Grêmio face Coritiba for first time nearly two years after flood-time help | OneFootball

Grêmio host Coritiba in Porto Alegre on Sunday in the 13th round of the Brasileirão, their first meeting since floods hit Rio Grande do Sul nearly two years ago. Globo.com reports that the occasion carries added significance after Coritiba's support during that crisis.

At the time, Coritiba lent the Couto Pereira to the Porto Alegre club, and Grêmio played six home fixtures there.

Ana Paula Donner, an accountant from Sarandi in the city's north, had attended every Grêmio match in Porto Alegre for 11 years, but in May 2024 she was unable to do so. She recalls a difficult period, with the Arena do Grêmio under water and the scale of the damage hard to grasp.

With both the Arena do Grêmio and Inter’s Beira-Rio unusable and the league initially not paused, the clubs agreed a temporary switch to Couto Pereira. To see her team again, Ana undertook the 12-hour, 700 kilometre journey to Curitiba, welcomed by Coritiba fans, including Império Alviverde, who offered showers, barbecue and a place to rest.

In total, Grêmio spent 134 days away, staging 14 home games outside Porto Alegre across four states and five stadiums, covering 15,000 kilometres. They returned to the Arena on 1 September with a 3-2 defeat to Atlético-MG in the Brasileiro.

Source: Globo.com