Grêmio and Atlético-MG open their Copa do Brasil semifinal on Sunday at 18h30 at the Arena in Porto Alegre, with the first leg now set and the path to the final starting in front of a home crowd. The match will be shown by sportv and Premiere, with Amazon Prime also listed and ge following the action in real time.
The game arrives with Renato Portaluppi’s side in a sharper moment. Grêmio comes in after two straight Brasileirão wins and plans to keep the three-center-back shape that carried those victories, with Weverton behind Gustavo Martins, Balbuena and Wallace, and João Pedro and Enamorado expected to stay in the starting side. That run matters because Grêmio is still trying to steady its place in the league while pushing for the Copa do Brasil title, a balance that makes Sunday more than a single knockout match.
The matchup also puts two very different stretches on the same field. Grêmio’s recent form contrasts with Atlético-MG’s three straight defeats, a slide that includes the loss to Cruzeiro and has sharpened the pressure on Eduardo Domínguez. He is searching for a replacement for Reinier in attack, while Victor Hugo is expected to be used up front because Borbas and Cassierra are unavailable. Those absences leave Atlético-MG with a probable lineup of Everson; Natanael, Vitão, Lyanco and Renan Lodi; Castaño, Alan Franco and Maycon; Bernard, Cuello and Victor Hugo.
Grêmio also has names out, with Pavon, Danilo Barbosa, Nardoni and Diego Caito listed as absentees because of muscle injuries. Yet the home side still enters with a clear structure and two consecutive league wins, while Atlético-MG arrives needing to stop the slide before the tie turns into a chase. Davi De Oliveira Lacerda will referee the match, with Rodrigo Figueiredo Henrique Correa and Bruno Boschilia as assistants, Pablo Ramon Goncalves Pinheiro on VAR and Fernando Antonio Mendes de Salles Nascimento Filho as fourth referee.
What comes next is simple and severe: Sunday gives one team the first half of an edge and leaves the other with the burden of recovery. In a semifinal, that can decide the tone of the entire tie long before the second leg is played.
