Ramón Díaz demands Corinthians' support after defeat to Botafogo

After Corinthians' defeat to Botafogo last Saturday (14), coach Ramón Díaz demanded that the team adopt a different approach for the rest of the season. Timão lost 2-1 away from home and remains in the relegation zone of the Brazilian Championship.

In a post-match press conference, the coach expressed concern about the way the team performed in Rio de Janeiro after two consecutive victories. Corinthians beat Flamengo in the last round and qualified for the semi-finals of the Copa do Brasil by defeating Juventude 3-1.

Lamentation over missed penalty

In the defeat to Botafogo, at the Nilton Santos stadium, the São Paulo team had two penalties in their favor, one in each half of the game. In the first half, the penalty was missed by Ángel Romero when the team was losing 1-0.

The coach regretted the missed penalty, “It's incredible, because in a game where we had two penalties, we lost. It doesn't happen often that we get two penalties, and there was also another one with the hand that could have had a third”said the Argentine coach.

_{Ramón Díaz demanded action from the Corinthians squad (Photo: reproduction/Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians)}

Despite the defeat, Ramón Díaz saw some positive points in the team, such as the ability to recover within the match, but he stressed that the team needs to improve. “We applied pressure and managed to score, but I think we lacked the ability to play in the situation we found ourselves in. I hope things improve, we need to change quickly because the situation is not easy.”

Concern about the defensive part

During the press conference, the Corinthians coach recalled the good performance in the 2-1 victory over Flamengo in the last round. “We expected to have the spirit we had in the last match against Flamengo, that was the line to follow and in the first half (against Botafogo) we didn't play well.”

When talking about the first goal conceded at Niltão, the Argentine showed concern about the team's defensive situation: “They scored the first goal very easily, there was no pressure, there was no recovery. And that is what worries us the most, we need to play with a certain attitude, a certain way to get points.”

Corinthians' next match is in the Copa Sudamericana, on Tuesday, away from home, against Fortaleza. It is the first leg of the quarter-finals of the competition.

In the Brasileirão, Timão is in 18th place with 25 points and returns to the field for the tournament next Saturday, at Neo Química Arena, against Atlético-GO.

Featured photo: Ramón Díaz (Reproduction/Danilo Fernandes/Meu Timão)