Corinthians boss sees positives in away draw at Santa Fe, Libertadores | OneFootball

By Fabio Luigi / Central do Timão Editorial Team

On the night of last Wednesday (6), Corinthians faced Santa Fe of Colombia at Estádio Alfredo Schürig, Fazendinha, in the fourth round of the 2026 Conmebol Libertadores group stage, and could only manage a 1-1 draw. Alvinegro’s goal was scored by center-back Gustavo Henrique in the 48th minute of the second half. The draw left Corinthians with 10 points at the top of Group E – three wins and one draw – with seven goals scored and one conceded.

A few minutes after the final whistle, head coach Fernando Diniz held a press conference and analyzed the match, praising the team’s performance even in the context of the altitude of more than 2,000 meters in Bogotá. The coach also highlighted the importance of center-back Gustavo Henrique in set-piece situations, answered about the “Corinthians mystique,” gave an assessment of his first month at Parque São Jorge, praised Jesse Lingard, and looked ahead to next Sunday’s (10) Majestoso at 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time), in Itaquera, for the 15th round of the national competition.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

See below all of Fernando Diniz’s answers in the press conference:

Match analysis, positive takeaway given the altitude context

“Managing the altitude has to be done. There’s no way around it, and in the end it came down to overcoming it. Here it’s 200 meters lower than Quito. You who are here must have walked on the street, climbed stairs, and know it’s not something normal. It’s not the same as playing at sea level. It’s hard to play here because they get almost every cross right, almost every shot right, they hit long passes. It was a game with very different characteristics, and the players really rose to the occasion, especially in the final part of the game. We ended up opening the team up more.”

“And we didn’t deserve, in any way, nor did the fans, to go home with a defeat. We played well, we knew how to control the game. We had possession, we knew how to drop back to play. Because constantly playing long balls was a game that favored them a lot. The ball moves very differently and they have the advantage in that type of game. So I think the team deserves congratulations for understanding the game and especially for the grit, for how much it represented what it means to be Corinthians.”

Corinthians’ aerial plays and Gustavo Henrique’s importance in this aspect

“I think it’s a combination of both things. Today we ran a play with everyone inside the box to try to distract the marking right on the first corner we had. But a lot of it comes from Gustavo himself. He’s a player. It’s not just that he’s tall. There are a lot of players even taller than him who can’t perform the way he does. He scores because he has a knack for scoring, he believes in it, he has heading technique. And he’s a player who has been doing a lot for Corinthians since he arrived.”

“And it wasn’t a set piece. At that moment we reshaped the team so we could keep more possession in attack. We knew a crossing chance would end up coming because they dropped a lot of players back. And Pedro Raul and Gustavo stayed there in the box and we had it. We had the goal and another chance where we could have scored. We didn’t deserve, in any way, to leave with a defeat today.”

“I think today there was a lot of variation. The team played in different ways today, with long balls, with combinations from one side to the other, with circulation. There was penetration on both sides of the field, shots from outside the box. So today, for anyone who watched the game and has eyes to see, they’ll be able to notice a lot, even much more than should be expected given the short time working together. But today it wasn’t a set-piece goal, it was an aerial goal, it wasn’t from a set piece, it was a worked ball, we were in attack, Gustavo was already in that position, he stayed there for the last 10, 12 minutes already as a center-forward, alongside Pedro, and ended up making the most of Matheus’s cross.”

Assessment of the first month of work at Corinthians – five wins, three draws, and one defeat – 10 goals scored and three conceded

“I think it’s been a very positive month and there has been a lot of Corinthians in it. I think the debut had the face of Corinthians, the game against Palmeiras even more so, playing with two men less in the derby. Then the player sent off against Vasco, winning a game with one man less. And today was another one of those games with the face of the team, the face of the institution, really the face of a Corinthians side. Today’s game was very good. In fact, we deserved to leave the way we did. I think Matheuzinho as well is playing great matches, he delivered an excellent cross and Gustavo was very happy with the header.”

How do you restore André Luiz’s confidence?

“I’ve already spoken about André on other occasions, he’s a huge talent who is learning to play in every scenario. Today was a game with a lot of balls that had to be played first-time, without holding the ball too much. He’s a player whose biggest strength is his ability to retain the ball and drive forward. So today was a game that called for fewer touches and more mobility. I think that was something I mentioned. I guided him and Raniele a little, because our defensive midfielders were staying... That’s an effect of the altitude. We weren’t like that in any other game. One midfielder would go out to provide cover on one side, the other would take too long to close down. That was probably the origin of their goal, that happening. The ball went in that way because there was a gap there that isn’t common. It’s very hard to play at altitude. In Quito it’s also very hard, in La Paz even more so, but here too it’s not the same kind of game, it’s not like playing at sea level. There’s an extra difficulty.”

Corinthians spirit of fighting until the end

“It was a very rich experience today. I think the goal at that moment was the celebration of a team that doesn’t give up. You could see that the team, especially in the final 15 minutes, was playing in unison with the fans. The fans didn’t stop, the team didn’t stop. The team played that final stretch with a lot of courage, it didn’t become disorganized. It was very good. A special day. Even though it was a draw, a lot of people are going to remember today’s game.”

Unbeaten run in the Libertadores combining his work at Fluminense and Corinthians

“For me it’s obviously a reason for joy. I don’t go around thinking about those numbers, but I hope I can extend it as much as possible. And it’s very good to build even more on this unbeaten run here at Corinthians.”

Jesse Lingard’s performance and the Englishman’s matches under your command

“We talked, but there was nothing special. To tell the truth, Jesse had one of his best matches today. If you consider the difficulty of the game, which is playing at altitude, maybe it was his best game. Because against Peñarol he was very good too, but the team was flying, having a very inspired day. Today he was very important, he made decisive plays and, incredible as it may seem, he was a player who finished strong. At the end of the game he still had gas. It’s that thing I always say, a player isn’t just muscle and bone. And taking what I said as a cue, you can see that someone could say that in the Mirassol game we repeated the lineup from Thursday to Sunday and could have rested players because they would get tired or could get injured. And today we used the same players again, to play at altitude, with a very long trip on top of that. It’s not that this is right or wrong. It’s just so we don’t reduce the player to a package of muscle and bone.”

“Lingard himself is a clear example of that happening today. Nobody expected him to adapt so well and finish today’s match the way he did coming off a run of games. When he arrived at Coritiba, he also hadn’t played for a while. So there are many issues we don’t have an explanation for when it comes to the phenomenon of football, how players manage to play, how they endure it. There are players you can field with everything under control and they still get injured or feel something during the game. And that was a point I wanted to make, because sometimes when something happens, some uninformed person comes along and says, ‘but you repeated the team.’ So we take a lot of things into account. The club’s physiology department is excellent, and with the performance department and medical department we talk and gather as many elements as possible so we can make the best decisions.”

Looking ahead to the Majestoso derby against São Paulo in Itaquera for the Brasileirão

“This game is extremely important for us and everyone knows it, because it’s a derby and especially because of our position in the table. So now we’ll try to recover the players well and put out the best we have for Sunday’s match.”

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