Corinthians return, gear up for Internacional in Copa do Brasil last 16 | OneFootball

On the afternoon of this Friday (31), after a scoreless draw with Athletico-PR in Itaquera in the 21st round of the Brazilian Championship, Corinthians began preparations for its next match of the 2026 season. Next Sunday (2), at 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time), the club from Parque São Jorge will visit Internacional at Beira-Rio Stadium for the first leg of the Copa do Brasil round of 16.

The second leg is scheduled for next Thursday (6), at 8 p.m., at Neo Química Arena. The players who featured for more than 45 minutes in last Thursday’s match (30) stayed indoors at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava for recovery work. Meanwhile, the rest of the squad began the day with strength training in the gym.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

Then, right after the warm-up on the pitch, the players carried out a triangle-passing and finishing drill, as well as another possession exercise with finishing. Finally, coach Fernando Diniz led a strategic tactical drill and organized a 10-v-10 collective tactical session with players from Timão’s youth academy.

Also on Friday, Alvinegro confirmed the injuries of midfielders Zakaria Labyad, Rodrigo Garro, and Yuri Alberto, who were injured in the match against Athletico-PR. The first of them, in fact, is only expected to play again in 2027, as he suffered an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and to the meniscus area in the same knee.

Besides them, the following players are also currently in Corinthians’ medical department: left-backs Hugo Farias (in physical transition after recovering from knee cruciate ligament surgery) and Matheus Bidu (pubis pain, did not train this Wednesday), defensive midfielder Alex Santana (pubis pain), midfielder Vitinho (surgery on the meniscus of his left knee), as well as forwards Kayke Ferrari (recovering from cruciate ligament surgery) and Pedro Raul (pubis pain).

Corinthians, it is worth remembering, are the current Copa do Brasil champions, having beaten Vasco da Gama 2-1 at Maracanã Stadium in 2025. In this edition, they reached the round of 16 by eliminating Barra-SC with a 2-0 aggregate score in the fifth round. Throughout history, Timão have already faced Internacional in three different seasons — 1992, 2009, and 2017 — coming out on top in the second, when they went on to win the title.

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