Internacional will host Santos at Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre on Sunday at 16:00 in the 26th round of the Brasileirão, a match that arrives with both teams trying to steady themselves in the lower half of the table. Inter starts the round in 18th place with 25 points, while Santos is 14th with 29, and that gap gives the game immediate weight before the first whistle.
That is why Santos Vs Internacional is drawing attention now: it is not just another league date, but a direct meeting between sides with different recent runs and the same need for points. The match will be shown by RBS TV, Globo and Premiere, according to Globo.com, and the timing matters because the round opens with Inter still searching for a league win since the World Cup while Santos comes in unbeaten in three league matches, with two victories in that stretch.
For Internacional, the pressure is built on more than position alone. The club was eliminated from the Copa do Brasil by Grêmio earlier in the week, and its league form has turned into a long stretch without relief, with nine matches without a win and five defeats in that span. Esteban Conde could start Matheus Cunha, Bruno Gomes, Mercado, Maripán, Matheus Bahia, Villagra, Thiago Maia, Alan Patrick, Vitinho, Carbonero and Sanabria, but Victor Gabriel, Bernabei, Pezzolano and Gonzalo Álvares are suspended and Allex is working to get fit.
Santos arrives with a different rhythm, even after its own Copa do Brasil exit to Palmeiras earlier in the week. Cuca could choose Gabriel Brazão, Igor Vinícius, Willian Arão, Luan Peres, Escobar, João Schmidt, Arthur or Gustavo Henrique, Gabriel Bontempo, Rollheiser, Rony and Gabigol, but the lineup is not guaranteed and Neymar is out with a right thigh injury. That leaves the visitors trying to manage form and absences at the same time, with Barreal and Lucas Veríssimo suspended.
The match will be officiated by Alex Gomes Stefano, with Luiz Claudio Regazone and Thayse Marques Fonseca as assistants, Wagner Reway on VAR and Felipe da Silva Goncalves Paludo as fourth official. For both clubs, the next confirmed step is simple: survive Sunday at Beira-Rio and leave the weekend with the table looking less dangerous than it does now.
