Corinthians face derby clash and trip upstate this week, check the schedule | OneFootball

The Corinthians have another challenging week this January. After a 1-1 draw in the Majestic against São Paulo in Itaquera, Timão will face a tough sequence of away games. The black-and-white team will play a classic against Santos and then travel again to face Velo Clube.

Corinthians will have a short preparation period for the black-and-white classic. With a tight schedule, the team is expected to have only three training sessions, with one likely being a recovery session for those who were starters against Tricolor.

Corinthians and Santos will face off this Thursday, starting at 7:30 PM (Brasília time), at Vila Belmiro, for the fourth round of the Paulista Championship.

For this match, Dorival Júnior's coaching staff already knows they cannot count on Memphis Depay, who is in the process of physical transition but still feels pain. The presence of the number 10 in the black-and-white classic was ruled out by the coach.

Timão heads to Rio Claro

After the match against Santos, Corinthians will face another trip within the State of São Paulo. Timão will go to Rio Claro to face Velo Clube next Sunday (25th), starting at 8:30 PM, at Estádio Benito Agnelo Castellano. The black-and-white squad will have only two days of preparation for the clash.

This will be the last game for the Paulista Black-and-White before the debut in the Brazilian Championship. The CBF accepted the club's request and brought forward the match against Bahia to Wednesday, putting Timão on equal footing with Flamengo regarding rest days before the Supercopa do Brasil final.

Rotation

Dorival Júnior's coaching staff has opted to implement a rotation in the squad to avoid overloading their main players early in the season. Corinthians was closer to the ideal team precisely in the classic against São Paulo. However, Timão is still missing three important players: Memphis, Garro, and José Martínez.

Memphis is in physical transition, while Rodrigo Garro is recovering from surgery on the scaphoid bone of his left wrist. José Martínez, on the other hand, is in Venezuela to reissue his Venezuelan passport and has not yet returned. The midfielder has not responded to the coaching staff's contacts — a situation that has caused discomfort behind the scenes at the club.

Expectation for reinforcements

Corinthians also starts the week with the expectation of announcing new reinforcements in the coming days. Forward Kaio César, on loan from Al-Hilal, is expected to arrive in Brazil this Tuesday, according to Dorival. Additionally, the club has finalized a deal with right-back Pedro Milans and is close to securing the signing of goalkeeper João Ricardo on loan from Fortaleza.

Standings situation

With the result, Corinthians returned to the qualifying zone for the knockout stage of the Paulista Championship. Timão secured an unlikely point given the circumstances of the game and jumped to seventh place, reaching four points.

Details of Corinthians' upcoming matches

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