Santos and Bahia meet on Saturday at 21h at Vila Belmiro in a Campeonato Brasileiro game that arrives with both teams short of key pieces. Lucas Veríssimo is out after a left-thigh injury, while Bahia will be without Jean Lucas and Roman Gomez because of suspensions.
That matters now because Santos is chasing a place in the G-5 and Bahia is trying to pull itself back toward the Libertadores qualification zone from seventh place with 49 points. The game will be shown by sportv and Premiere, and ge will follow every moment in real time.
Santos will have to adjust in the back line without Veríssimo, Escobar, Willian Arão, Gabriel Brazão, Arthur and Vinícius Lira. João Alencar is expected to start, and Barreal should continue at left back, with a likely Santos lineup of Diógenes, Rodinei, João Alencar, Luan Peres, Barreal, Gustavo Henrique, Gabriel Bontempo, Philippe Coutinho, Everton Cebolinha, Neymar and Gabigol.
Bahia, meanwhile, enters after three straight losses and after a 3-0 home defeat to Flamengo, yet it still comes with a strong reason to believe the trip can matter. It has not beaten Santos at Vila Belmiro in 10 games, but that run is now being tested against a Santos side that has won only one of five home matches in the return leg.
There is also a clean contrast in how each side must solve the night. Marcos Victor is expected to play at right back for Bahia, Erick should return to midfield, and the likely lineup is Ronaldo, Marcos Victor, David Duarte, Marco Moreno, Luciano Juba, Acevedo, Rodrigo Nestor, Erick, Kike Oliveira, Erick Pulga and Alejo Véliz. On one side, Santos has to protect a home field it has not fully controlled; on the other, Bahia has to live without two suspended starters and still find a result that keeps its season moving.
With Sávio Pereira Sampaio set to referee, the match is less about ceremony than consequences. Santos needs the points to stay in the hunt above it, and Bahia needs them to keep from drifting further from the zone it wants back. By kickoff, the lineups will tell the rest.
