Flamengo and Bahia meet on Sunday at 19:30 Brasília time at the Maracanã in the 12th round of the Brazilian Série A, with the home side trying to put together a third consecutive league win and keep pressure on Palmeiras.
The match will be shown by Premiere, while ge will carry live coverage with videos in Tempo Real. Flamengo enters as the league runner-up and has a game in hand, which gives the team a chance to narrow the gap again if it handles a Bahia side that has already been hard to beat away from Salvador.
Bahia's travel record has been one of the most striking numbers of its campaign: four away wins and one loss, an 80% success rate on the road. The team also arrives on the back of a 2-1 away win over Mirassol one week earlier, a result that underlined why this trip to Rio is being treated as more than a routine league visit.
Flamengo's own week has been split between celebration and management. Leonardo Jardim rested several players in the midweek Libertadores win over Independiente Medellín, and the club is now likely to make at least five changes to its lineup against Bahia. That rotation comes with the burden of absences too, as Jorginho is out with a muscle injury in his left calf, Pulgar is sidelined by an injury to the acromioclavicular joint in his right shoulder, and Carrascal is suspended.
Bahia also arrives with its share of personnel issues, even if some important pieces are returning. Rogério Ceni is suspended and will be replaced on the bench by assistant Charles Hembert, while David Duarte is available after a suspensive effect decision. Gilberto has recovered from injury and could return to the lineup, and Ademir trained normally after leaving the last match with shoulder pain. Ronaldo and Ruan Pablo remain out injured.
Flávio Rodrigues de Souza will referee the game, with Daniel Paulo Ziolli and Andrey Luiz de Freitas as assistants and Rodrigo D'Alonso Ferreira in the VAR booth. The stakes are simple enough: Flamengo wants to stay close to the top, Bahia has shown it can travel, and both teams arrive with enough uncertainty to make the Maracanã meeting feel less like a formality than a test of who has adapted better by Sunday night.