Santos approaches his goal and wants to take advantage of Internacional’s bad phase

With three rounds of the end of the Brazilian Championship, Santos will visit Internacional this Sunday (28), at 7 pm, in Beira-Rio. The match is valid for the 36th round and will be broadcast by Premiere.

Relieved for having reached 45 points by beating Fortaleza 2-0 in Vila Belmiro, on Thursday (25), an important step in the fight against relegation, the team from São Paulo can still fight for a place in the preliminary phases of the Copa Libertadores.

The duel against Internacional is decisive, as the team from Rio Grande do Sul has 47 points and is the ninth place in the Nacional (currently, even the eighth place would be guaranteed in the South American tournament).

Afterwards, Santos will pick up the vice-leader Flamengo, at Maracanã, on the 6th. Finally, the team from Alvinegro will say goodbye to the competition against Cuiabá, in Vila Belmiro.

In the first round, in Vila, Santos drew with Internacional (2 to 2) and was defeated by Flamengo (4 to 0) and Cuiabá (2 to 1).

Now, Santos will try to take advantage of the bad phase of the Gauchos. The colorada team comes from three consecutive defeats (Cuiabá, Flamengo and Fluminense). The last victory was on the 13th of this month, by 2-1, over Athletico.

While dreaming of the first half of the table, coach Fábio Carille tries to keep his squad attentive. He is worried about the recent results obtained by the teams that fight against the last positions and that still do not allow him to nail the Santos permanence in Serie A.

“I am satisfied with what is happening,” said Carille. “There’s very little left to achieve our goal. We’re going to look for more points and now I’m starting to dream of a South American. With 45 [pontos], mathematically we are not free yet.”

Marinho, 31, and Diego Tardelli, 36, are expected to stay out of the match. Both felt muscle discomfort in the thigh and did not return from the break in the match against Fortaleza.

The young Gabriel Pirani, 19, and Marcos Leonardo, 18, replaced the pair and did the job. Pirani contributed with an assist and Marcos Leonardo scored the two goals in the victory over Cearenses.

“Marcos, since we arrived at the club, has been training well. I confess that I am unsure of putting 16 or 18 year old boys at this moment. I know about his talent and potential, [mas] business is heavy. It is not known to what extent we have their return, [existe o] fear of burning,” says Carille.

At Internacional, coach Diego Aguirre will not be able to count on defensive midfielder Rodrigo Dourado, suspended for the accumulation of yellow cards.