An entirely reserve team of Grêmio, which will not even count with its coach, Renato Gaucho, will be the rival of Santos this Sunday, November 19. The match is part of the schedule of the thirty-sixth (antepenultimate) round of the Brazilian Championship of 2017 and will be held at Vila Belmiro, Santos. The kickoff is scheduled for 19h (Brasília time).
Santos’s recent performance
Guaranteeing the last direct vacancy in the Copa Libertadores through the Brasileirão was the goal that remained to Santos. Three of the four privileged places that the national tournament awards for the international competition have already been filled by Corinthians, Palmeiras and Grêmio. Faced with the disinterested tricolor gaucho, the Fish can confirm its vacancy with two days of anticipation.
The San Vicente alvinegro was defeated on the night of Thursday, November 16, 3-1, by Bahia, in Salvador. With that, he remained in fourth place with 56 points (15 wins, 11 draws and nine losses). They are five ahead in the comparison with Botafogo, sixth place, their main tracker, as Cruzeiro (55 points), who is in fifth position, already has place guaranteed in the group stage of the Libertadores.
Without taking into account the results of the alvinegro carioca, Santos needs five of the nine points that will play to confirm their classification. However, if rivals stumble in the round, they can secure their place with a win on Sunday.
He will not be able to count, however, with the one that is considered its main creator of offensive moves. The midfielder Lucas Lima received in the match in Salvador his twelfth yellow card in Brasileirão. Thus, it will have to fulfill its fourth suspension by the accumulation of this type of warning.
In practice, there is little to be regretted about its absence in terms of performance. With a contract to be closed at the end of the year, the athlete has already decided that he will not stay at Vila Belmiro and has been performing well below average in recent matches.
The problem is that throughout the season several athletes were used in the position and none of them showed enough soccer so that it could threaten to take the place of Lucas Lima.
The current form of the Guild
The Brazilian Championship finished for Grêmio. By defeating Sao Paulo, by 1 to 0, in Porto Alegre, on Wednesday, November 15, the team from Rio Grande do Sul achieved their goal for the competition. With 61 points accumulated (18 wins, seven draws and ten losses), reached the level deemed necessary to secure a place in the 2018 edition of the Copa Libertadores.
Not that the tricolor wants to use that vacancy. His main objective is to lift the continental competition trophy in the 2017 season. He is in the decision as Lanús. It will be held on Wednesday, November 22, also at the Grêmio Arena, the first match. The return game is scheduled for Buenos Aires on November 29.
So coach Renato Gaúcho will put a team made up entirely of reserves not only for Sunday’s match against Santos, but also to face Atlético-GO in the penultimate round of the Brasileirão. As the last match will be against Atlético-MG, in Belo Horizonte, the strategy must be repeated even after Libertadores is set.
Even some reserves must be preserved so that they do not run the risk of wear and tear and are available for the finals of the continental tournament. Thus, most likely the ‘rehearsal’ that the Gremistas made against Sao Paulo was the last game of the holders in the tournament. The strategy of prioritizing the continental tournament has been used throughout the season. In the end, whether or not the trophy is won will determine if it was successful.
History of the matches Santos vs Grêmio
Peixe won 20 of the games against Grêmio in Brasileirão. The tricolors have won 18 times, even number of registered draws, which includes the 1 to 1 of the first round of the 2017 season in Porto Alegre.
Featuring a good home performance, the third best in the Brasileirão, Santos is the best option to bet for the match not because of its merits, but because of the extreme disinterest shown by Grêmio. Santos success has a 1.70 in Rivalo. Draw shows return of 3.70 and victory gaúcha yields 5.00 for each real bet.
PREDICTION:Santos win @ 1.70