Botafogo and Fluminense will meet on Saturday at 21h at the Estádio Nilton Santos in the second Clássico Vovô of the 2026 Campeonato Brasileiro. It is Franclim Carvalho’s first classic in charge of Botafogo, and he may use it to hand new roles to Danilo Pereira and Lucas Monzón.
The match is drawing attention because it lands with live broadcast on sportv, with images also in 4k, and on Premiere, while Botafogo remains unbeaten since the league resumed after the pause for the Copa do Mundo. That run includes wins over Cruzeiro and Santos and a 0-0 draw with Vitória, enough to give the home side a different edge going into a derby that already has a first-round memory attached to it.
That memory is not small. Fluminense won the first meeting 1-0 at the Maracanã, with Lucho Acosta deciding the game, and now Botafogo has the chance to answer at home with a team that could look different in key areas. Danilo Pereira is expected to form an attacking partnership with Arthur Cabral, while Lucas Monzón may join Ferraresi in defense if Franclim Carvalho chooses the more aggressive option.
Botafogo’s probable lineup points in that direction: Warleson, Vitinho, Ferraresi, Lucas Monzón or Justino, Alex Telles, Danilo, Medina, Lucas Villalba, Montoro, Danilo Pereira and Arthur Cabral. The absences matter too, because Allan, Kaio Pantaleão, Júnior Santos and Huguinho are out, and Huguinho is suspended after his third yellow card. That leaves Carvalho with enough shape to choose, but not enough comfort to treat the derby like a routine league night.
Fluminense arrives with its own pressure. The team has not won in six matches, a sequence made up of five draws and one defeat, and it was also eliminated by Vasco in the Copa do Brasil. Zubeldía is expected to make many changes ahead of next Tuesday’s Libertadores round of 16 match against Independiente Rivadavia, which means the lineup could shift again before the opening whistle.
For Fluminense, the planned changes come with important absences. Thiago Silva, Millán, Freytes and John Kennedy are unavailable, and John Kennedy is out for the season. Even so, the probable lineup still carries familiar names: Fábio, Samuel Xavier, Jemmes, Ignácio or Igor Rabello, Renê, Hércules or Ganso, Martinelli, Nonato, Serna or Canobbio, Soteldo and Hulk or Cano. The shape is competitive, but it is also unsettled, and that is exactly what makes this classic harder to read than the table alone suggests.
Bruno Arleu de Araujo will referee the match, with Rodrigo Figueiredo Henrique Correa and Luiz Claudio Regazone as assistants, Paulo Henrique Schleich Vollkopf as fourth referee, Marcelo Rogerio as assessor, Rodolpho Toski Marques on VAR and Luis Diego Nascimento Lopes on AVAR. By Saturday night, Botafogo will be trying to extend its unbeaten run and Fluminense will be trying to stop a slide that has already started to spill into other competitions.
