Santos and Fluminense meet on Sunday at 16:00 Brasília time at Vila Belmiro in the 12th round of the Campeonato Brasileiro. The match will be shown by TV Globo, Premiere and ge tv, while ge will follow every moment in real time.
Santos is trying to win a second straight match in the Brasileirão and can move closer to the top half of the table with a positive result. The team also wants to recover from the bad impression left by the draw with Recoleta in the Copa Sul-Americana, and it will do so without Cuca on the bench after his red card against Atlético-MG. Cuquinha takes charge in his place, with Barreal back after serving a suspension in the previous round and Lucas Veríssimo returning after being rested against Recoleta. Escobar is suspended after picking up his third yellow card against Atlético-MG, while Rony is out with a right ankle sprain. Santos also does not have Vinícius Lira, sidelined by a left knee injury, or Gabriel Menino, who has a right posterior thigh muscle injury. The probable lineup has Gabriel Brazão; Igor Vinícius, Lucas Veríssimo, Luan Peres and Barreal; Willian Arão, Gustavo Henrique, Gabriel Bontempo and Moisés; Neymar and Gabigol.
Fluminense arrives under pressure after four games without a win across all competitions, a run of two draws and two defeats that complicated its Libertadores qualification hopes. The club is still in the G-4, but supporters protested in the middle of the week after the poor sequence. The likely team has Fábio; Guga, Jemmes, Freytes and Arana; Bernal, Hércules and Alisson or Ganso; Savarino, Serna and John Kennedy. Lucho Acosta is out with a left knee injury, Matheus Reis underwent knee surgery, Nonato is sidelined by a right ankle sprain, Bernal is in transition after a partial posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee, Germán Cano has a grade 2 muscle injury, and Martinelli and Canobbio are suspended. The coach is weighing a three-midfielder setup or Ganso as the number 10, and that choice may decide whether Fluminense can steady itself in a game that now carries more weight than the standings alone.
Wilton Pereira Sampaio will referee the match, with Bruno Raphael Pires and Leone Carvalho Rocha as assistants, José Mendonça da Silva Júnior as fourth official and Rodolpho Toski Marques on VAR.
