Preview:Corinthians vs. Athletico Paranaense - prediction, team news, lineups

Athletico Paranaense travel to Corinthians for Thursday's Copa do Brasil clash at Neo Quimica Arena, aiming to overturn a first-leg defeat in the quarter-final.

Dorival Junior’s team secured a 1-0 victory in Parana on August 27 and are favourites to progress to the semi-finals, having not been beaten by their visitors in four encounters.

Match preview

Corinthians could take another step towards a title the club have not won since 2009 when they host Paranaense on Thursday.

The Sao Paulo outfit secured a 1-0 win in the first leg away from home and aim to finish the job in the reverse fixture in front of their fans by avoiding defeat, thereby extending their ongoing unbeaten run against their visitors.

Since losing 1-0 in a top-flight game in Parana, Corinthians have won three of the following four matches in all competitions with an aggregate score of 8-3.

Two of those fixtures have seen Timao prevent their hosts from scoring — both 1-0 wins in November 2023 and two weeks ago.

However, the home support will demand a dominant performance and result on Thursday, knowing full well that their team hit Paranaense for five in Furacao’s last visit in October 2024, a match that ended 5-2 in Corinthians’ favour.

With only one defeat suffered in this fixture in 13 matches, the Sao Paulo hosts aim to avoid surprises and secure a semi-final spot.

Standing in their path to reaching the last four are Odair Hellmann’s Paranaense, who enter Thursday having not defeated Corinthians in Sao Paulo since securing a 3-1 victory in 2009.

That long wait for an encouraging result against the seven-time Brasileiro champions and three-time Copa do Brasil winners faces another test as El Paranaense strive to end their 16-year winless streak in Sao Paulo this week.

Those prospects are bolstered by Furacao securing back-to-back wins in Serie B over Novorizontino and Botafogo SP, with scores of 2-1 and 3-1, respectively.

Although the absence of clean sheets in those two league victories may worry some fans, another group might prefer the 2019 Copa do Brasil winners to go all-out in an attempt to shock their renowned hosts and secure a semi-final spot.

Having exited at this stage of the competition for three straight years, twice against Flamengo and Vasco da Gama, El Paranaense now face the possibility of losing four consecutive domestic cup quarter-finals this week.

Corinthians Copa do Brasil form:

Corinthians form (all competitions):

Athletico Paranaense Copa do Brasil form:

Athletico Paranaense form (all competitions):

Team News

Memphis Depay, who recently became the Netherlands' top male scorer, faces a race against time to be available since the European side are not participating in international matches after Sunday's victory over Lithuania.

Meanwhile, Angel Romero (Paraguay), Felix Torres (Ecuador), Jose Martinez (Venezuela) and Hugo Souza (Brazil) might miss out due to national team commitments.

For the hosts, Andre Carrillo, Jose Andres Martinez and Raniele are absent due to ankle, hand and thigh injuries, respectively.

Paranaense are also dealing with numerous injury issues: Isaac (knee), Leo (thigh), Kaua Moraes Silva (knee), Renan (knee) and Raul (muscle) are all unlikely to feature in Sao Paulo.

One player who will not miss the quarter-final match is Luiz Fernando, who jointly leads the goalscoring charts in this season's competition alongside Vasco's Rayan and Fluminense's German Cano and Everaldo.

Corinthians possible starting lineup:

Longo; Rigon, Ramalho, Henrique, Bidu; Bidon, Ryan, Maycon; Garro; Negao, Kayke

Athletico Paranaense possible starting lineup:

Santos; Benavidez, Belazi, Tabares, Esquivel; Felipinho, Patrick, Zapelli; Mendoza, Viveros, Fernando

We say: Corinthians 1-1 Athletico Paranaense (Corinthians win 2-1 on aggregate)

The potential non-involvement of Depay and national team absences for Corinthians, along with El Paranaense’s four-goal forward Fernando, present Athletico Paranaense with a plausible chance to end their 16-year wait for victory in Sao Paulo.

Although the away side are backed to avoid defeat on the night, Dorival Junior’s team are likely to secure a draw to progress narrowly to the semi-final.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.