Remo and Grêmio meet on Wednesday at 19h30 at Estádio do Mangueirão in Belém, with the 29th round of the Série A of the Campeonato Brasileiro carrying real weight at both ends of the table. Premiere will show the match live, and ge will follow it in Tempo Real.
Remo arrives in 19th place with 23 points and needs more than a result. It needs a break from a run that has stretched to 10 matches without a win across all competitions, including eight without victory in the Série A, and it starts this week still eight points behind the first team outside the Z-4. Grêmio is not comfortable either. It comes in 17th place with 29 points, only two ahead of Vasco, the first team outside the relegation zone.
For Remo, the latest signs are mixed. Zé Ivaldo and Patrick are back in the available squad after missing the Santos match for contractual reasons, Mayk recovered from injury and trained normally, and Jajá also trained normally after reaching seven goals in the Série A. That is the kind of lift a side needs before a match like this, especially at home, where the margin for error has vanished.
The absences still shape the picture. Zé Welison and Poveda are suspended, Edson Fernando is serving the third of four matches of a STJD suspension, Matheus Felipe is out with a grade IV right-thigh injury, and João Lucas is also injured. Tchamba returned at the start of the week after being with the Cameroon national team, but his status points more to a chance of being available than a guarantee of starting. In practical terms, a late return after international duty usually means a place in the squad first, with the starting role decided only if the body is ready.
That leaves Remo with a probable lineup built around Marcelo Rangel, Marcelinho, Marllon, Zé Ivaldo, Marlon Matheus, Picco, Zé Ricardo, Patrick, Vitor Bueno, Pikachu, Galeano and Taliari. Marcelo Rangel has conceded 47 goals in 27 matches and made 78 saves, with two clean sheets, numbers that show how often he has been left exposed even when he has kept the score down. Grêmio’s likely side includes Weverton, João Pedro, Wallace, Kannemann, Caio Paulista, Danilo Barbosa, Dodi, Villasanti or Nardoni, Pavon, Carlos Vinicius and Amuzu, with Renato Portaluppi in his second match as coach in his fifth spell at the club.
There is also a tactical clue in how Grêmio used the break. During the Data Fifa, the team trained physically first and then tactically, and Portaluppi tested a three-volante model, which helps explain why Danilo Barbosa is expected to start and why Dodi and Nardoni were used in midfield in that period. If Villasanti is physically fit after national-team duty, he can fill one of those midfield places too. The structure is less about flair than control, and that is the point: a team fighting relegation often tries to protect itself before it tries to open the game.
Weverton brings a different reference point at the other end. He has conceded 34 goals in 26 matches, with six clean sheets and 58 saves, a record that suggests fewer emergencies than the one in front of Marcelo Rangel. Remo used the 19-day break during the Data Fifa only for training, and now the pause ends with a match that can change the mood around both clubs in one night. The next confirmed step is simple: kickoff at 19h30 on Wednesday in Belém, where Remo will try to stop the slide and Grêmio will try to widen the gap to danger.
