Corinthians chief on Arthur Cabral, assesses Libertadores group | OneFootball

On the evening of last Thursday (19th), Corinthians executive Marcelo Paz was alongside president Osmar Stabile attending the group stage draw for the Libertadores, at the Conmebol headquarters in Paraguay. The executive gave an interview to ESPN Brasil and was asked about the possible interest of the Alvinegro in striker Arthur Cabral, 27, who belongs to Botafogo.

Marcelo Paz praised the quality of the player, stating that the athlete is part of the club’s monitoring list, but pointed out that there are no advanced negotiations between the parties. Last week, the Alvinegro inquired about the center forward’s situation, but a possible move was viewed with little optimism, given his salary at the Rio de Janeiro club.

Photo: Corinthians/Disclosure

“I’ve known Arthur Cabral’s career for a long time. He’s a powerful center forward, good in the air, also plays well on the ground, scores goals, and is at a good age. He’s on our monitoring list, but there’s nothing very advanced at this moment. We value financial balance a lot and have a salary that is fair for the player profile he has, sold from Benfica to Botafogo for 12 million euros. He’s an athlete with a history, qualifications, and market weight. He’s mapped by us, but nothing very advanced at this moment,” he began.

Right after, he spoke about how he sees the Corinthians squad, which, this season, until the end of the year, will compete in the Brazilian Championship, Conmebol Libertadores, and Copa do Brasil. The executive believes the team has the ability to fight for titles alongside Flamengo and Palmeiras. In his response, he also highlighted the increase in squad options for this year.

“We’re coming in very strong. The Corinthians squad is more qualified, with more pieces. I’ll judge by the last game against Santos, where important players were left out, where Yuri Alberto was still out due to injury, and Lingard was still out because he wasn’t registered. Just those are four quality names who could have been playing and weren’t among the 23. The squad is stronger.”

“And speaking of Corinthians and Flamengo, this year we faced Flamengo in the Supercopa, we won the match with authority, faced Palmeiras in the Campeonato Paulista, we were superior and lost the game. They had the merit of being competent, defending well, and scoring the goal, but we played a great match. They are two great opponents with very high investments, different from our investment, which was based on creativity, zero-cost window. We have a team to go head-to-head, on equal terms, with Flamengo and Palmeiras,” he continued.

Later, he responded about the criticism Dorival Júnior has been facing as Corinthians’ head coach. The Alvinegro, in fact, hasn’t won in six matches and has reached a streak not seen since June 2024. Almost a year as coach of the Parque São Jorge club, since he was officially announced on April 28, the coach has already won the Copa do Brasil and the Supercopa do Brasil, against Vasco da Gama and Flamengo, respectively.

“It’s my role, because I see the work, the day-to-day, the dedication, the attempt to win every game, and I see the care he takes with having a broken squad, being able to rotate players so as not to lose them to injury. I see his concern that we can have an increasingly qualified squad. So, as I’m seeing many things that aren’t seen because they’re not in the day-to-day, I have the duty and obligation to bring this calm.”

“He’s a winning coach, who at Corinthians, in a short time, has already won two titles, a national title that Corinthians hadn’t won in quite some time. On February 1st, he was praised by everyone because he beat Flamengo, for his strategy, intelligence, the coach who knows how to play these types of games. There can’t be such a big questioning of his work so soon after. But that’s how Corinthians is, we understand that and we’ll work to get back to winning games, because that’s what brings calm to any football job,” he went on.

Then, he analyzed Corinthians’ expectations for the 2026 Conmebol Libertadores. In 2025, the Parque São Jorge club was eliminated in the preliminary phase of the international tournament after losing to Barcelona of Ecuador, 3-2 on aggregate. In the first leg in Guayaquil, they lost 3-0. In Itaquera, the Alvinegro won 2-0 but couldn’t avoid elimination. Since their last and only title in the tournament, the club has been eliminated in the round of 16 in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018, as well as being knocked out in the quarterfinals in 2022 and in the group stage in 2023.

“It’s a desire of the Corinthians fan to win again. We go straight to the group stage, different from last year, when we were in the Pre and couldn’t make it. We got here on merit for brilliantly winning the Copa do Brasil. It’s a competition that will get our full focus as well. Without neglecting the Brazilian, without neglecting the Copa do Brasil. All competitions are important.”

“We prepare to win every game. There’s no such thing as choosing this or that. Sometimes, the fan is more eager for the Libertadores. That’s normal and understandable. We have to prepare for every match. It’s a charming competition, a very important competition. It’s a competition we can reach, we can reach it because of the squad we have, because of the way we work,” he stated.

Finally, to GE TV and the official Corinthians website, he was asked about the club’s opponents in the group stage. Timão is in group E alongside Platense (Argentina), Peñarol (Uruguay), and Santa Fé (Colombia).

“It’s a tough group. Platense was Argentine champion in the 2025 Apertura tournament. Santa Fe was Colombian champion in the 2025 Apertura tournament. And Peñarol needs no introduction, champion of the competition several times, a regular participant. The Copa Libertadores is a tough tournament, and we have to prepare well. The six matches will be in April and May, along with the Série A games, along with the Copa do Brasil games. So it requires preparation, logistics, rest, recovery, and performance. We know we have to score well, we want to get the best possible points, as these points accumulate so we can play the deciding matches at home in the later stages.”

“Whenever you have a South American competition draw, you worry about logistics, altitude. I think in that aspect it was good for Corinthians, because we’ll play in three capitals, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and Bogotá. They’re direct flights, good accommodation, less travel, and more recovery time. The main concern is, of course, the technical level. They’re good teams, champions in their countries, so we have to pay attention and, above all, plan and prepare very well for the coming months, when the six matches of this phase will coincide with the Brazilian and Copa do Brasil games. It’s important for us to be strong, qualified, with good planning, good execution, to do well in this Libertadores phase, aiming for a long run in the competition, which is what we want,” he concluded.

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