Atlético-MG will face Grêmio on Sunday at 16:00 at the Arena MRV in Belo Horizonte in the 23rd round of the Campeonato Brasileiro, with both teams carrying lineup changes into a match that matters on both ends of the table. Atlético-MG will have to do it without Lyanco, who is out with a rupture of the plantar fascia in his left foot.
That is why the game is drawing attention now. Atlético-MG enters the round in 11th place with 29 points, four behind the G-5, and it has gone eight matches without a loss. Grêmio arrives in 14th place with 25 points, three points above the Z-4, after beating São Paulo 2-1 at the Arena last Saturday and before that getting past Mirassol in the Copa do Brasil. The timing gives the match weight: one side is trying to keep climbing, the other is trying to keep distance from trouble.
Atlético-MG also comes in after a 1-0 win over Bragantino in the first leg of the Sul-Americana round of 16 this week, and its likely starting group points to Vitor Hugo stepping into the back line for Lyanco. Lodi returns after serving a suspension in the draw with Remo, and the probable lineup includes Everson, Natanael, Ruan, Vitor Hugo, Lodi, Alan Franco, Maycon, Victor Hugo, Bernard, Cuello and Cassierra. The absences list also includes Scarpa, Léo Duarte, Lyanco and Índio, with Tomás Pérez and Preciado still pending.
Grêmio’s week has been different. Tetê recovered from muscle edema and Filip Krovinovic was regularized, but Marlon and Villasanti are being preserved and both are absent from the probable group. The likely lineup includes Weverton, Diego Caito, Gustavo Martins, Wallace, Pedro Gabriel, Noriega, Nardoni, Krovinovic, Pavon, Carlos Vinicius and Amuzu. João Pedro, Monsalve and Balbuena are also out, while Noriega, Dodi, Nardoni and Vitor Severino remain pending.
The match will be followed in Tempo Real by ge, with Globo, Premiere and GE TV carrying the broadcast. The last piece of the puzzle is the one coaches still have to finish on paper: whether the expected names hold when the lineups are confirmed, or whether the final changes reshape a game already loaded with table pressure.
