Corinthians out of rhythm, a night to forget at Vila Belmiro | OneFootball

By André da Silva Costa

Corinthians had a night to forget at Vila Belmiro. Apathetic, the team was completely dominated and lost to Santos 3-1 in a match valid for the 28th round of the Brazilian Championship. And it could have been worse.

The first half for Timão was terrible. Absolutely nothing went right. The team had enormous difficulties escaping Peixe’s pressing defense and did not manage a single shot on goal.

Apparently unfocused, the players lost the ball several times in their own half, either through bad passes or interceptions by Santos, who took advantage to open up a 2-0 lead.

With the introduction of youngsters André Luiz and Kayke, and later Garro and Memphis Depay, Corinthians showed slight improvement and pushed further into attack, taking advantage of Peixe’s fatigue. However, Breno Bidon's childish penalty at the start of the second half killed any chance of a comeback. The team managed to pull one back, but never came close to equalizing the classic.

Struggling to gain momentum

The poor performance in the derby only proves how Corinthians hasn’t been able to gain momentum in the Brasileirão. The team had been playing well and showed signs it could finally fight for something more, but once again let the chance to string together wins slip away.

This has been happening frequently in this edition of the Brasileirão. The team has been inconsistent since the start of the competition and sits mid-table, without many ambitions. At the moment, Timão is closer to the relegation zone than to the top six.

Standings

With the loss in the derby, Corinthians remained at 32 points, in 12th place. Timão, however, could drop a spot in the standings if Grêmio picks up points against São Paulo this Thursday in Porto Alegre, at 7 p.m.

Corinthians’ next match

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