Seeking their first home victory of the 2024 Brasileiro Serie A campaign, Criciuma will welcome Bahia to Estadio Heriberto Hulse on Sunday.
The Santa Catarina-based club were beaten 3-1 by Athletico Paranaense on Thursday, while Bahia scored late to defeat Fortaleza 1-0.
Match preview
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Playing in their first top-flight campaign since 2013, Circiuma have seen their share of highs and lows in Serie A this season.
Things began positively for Claudio Tencati's men, earning points in each of their first three league contests, but they enter this encounter on a three-match losing run in this competition.
Their poor home form has been keeping them down all year, with Tigre claiming just one point in three domestic fixtures this season at Estadio Heriberto Hulse, while they are winless in five consecutive matches played in Criciuma.
This year, eight of their nine goals conceded in the Brasileiro Serie A have come in Criciuma, including a 5-2 defeat versus Cuiaba in their previous domestic home contest.
Four of their five points in this competition came when they scored first, but they have also dropped four points when scoring the opener, including on Thursday versus El Paranaense, keeping them a point below the relegation line.
They have not emerged victorious from a Serie A fixture with Bahia since May 2013 (3-1), while their previous triumph against them occurred during the 2016 Serie B campaign (3-2).
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After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Bahia are off to a flying start domestically in 2024, suffering just one defeat after eight fixtures.
Their victory earlier this week saw them draw even with Flamengo at the top of the table, only behind them on goal difference.
Rogerio Ceni's men have collected 17 points after eight domestic fixtures this year, more than double their total at this stage of the previous campaign (seven).
Since losing their opening league fixture at Internacional (2-1), they are unbeaten in four successive competitive fixtures away from home, two of which were victories.
In three of their domestic encounters played this year, they have fought back to earn a positive result despite conceding the opening goal, claiming five points when doing so.
They are unbeaten in their last five meetings in all competitions versus Criciuma, four of which were victories, conceding just one goal over that stretch and knocking them out of the Copa do Brasil earlier this year (3-0 on aggregate).
Team News
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Felipe Vizeu is dealing with a knock, while Fellipe Mateus sat out of their previous encounter because of a knee injury, and they could both miss this fixture for Criciuma.
Rodrigo is eligible to return from his yellow card suspension, Miguel Trauco sat out of their midweek affair following his red card against Cuiaba and Wilker Angel may miss this match after being selected to the Venezuelan squad for the upcoming Copa America.
Barreto netted the only goal for Tigre in a losing effort earlier this week, the first for him in the 2024 domestic campaign.
In their league fixture on Thursday, Bahia were without Thaciano due to a yellow card suspension, and Nicolas Acevedo sat out through injury.
Santiago Arias may be back for one more match despite being called up to the Colombian national team for the Copa America, which begins next week.
Earlier this week, Jean Lucas scored his first in the Brasileiro Serie A this season, while Marcos Felipe collected his third clean sheet of the campaign to preserve the victory.
Criciuma possible starting lineup:
Gustavo; Jonathan, Maia, Figueiredo, Hermes; Barreto, Gabriel, Barcia, Matheusinho; Bolasie, Eder
Bahia possible starting lineup:
Felipe; Cicinho, Xavier, Rezende, Juba; Alexandre; Ribeiro, Lucas; Biel; Ademir, Everaldo
We say: Criciuma 0-2 Bahia
Bahia have continuously been able to grind out victories and come up with something special at pivotal moments, and that could be what separates these two sides on Sunday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
