In a very busy game at Vila Belmiro, Bahia surprised and beat Corinthians, 2-1, in a duel in the first round of the 2026 Brazilian Championship on Wednesday night (28).
Timão took the lead with Breno Bidon, just 11 minutes into the first half. Even before the break, Tricolor de Aço turned the match around with goals from Jean Lucas and Willian José, from the penalty spot.
With the victory, Bahia adds the first three points in the Brasileirão and occupies 4th place. Corinthians is now zero in the table and occupies 16th place.
The game
The first stage was marked by a division within the opening 45 minutes. Timão was much superior during the opening 30 minutes, but Bahia managed to improve in the match and commanded the last 20 minutes.
In a dominant start, Timão didn’t take long to open the scoring. After a good play with Matheuzinho and -, Garro gave a beautiful pass for Breno Bidon to score the first goal of the match at Via Belmiro. Dorival Jr.’s team continued on top and could have increased the score, but Yuri Alberto missed a chance inside the area soon after.
Bahia then reacted and turned the game around in the first stage. After a quick counterattack, Jean Lucas received the ball on the edge of the area and hit a shot to equalize. At 45, after a defensive failure, Hugo Souza committed a penalty on Ademir and saw Willian José hit hard to turn the match around in Vila.
Corinthians started the second half by pressing and creating new chances on the left side, with Matheus Bidu finishing dangerously on two occasions. Ronaldo, Bahia’s goalkeeper, made important saves from shots from the full-back and also from Rodrigo Garro.
At 15 minutes, Timão almost equalized. After a rebound in the area, the ball fell to Memphis, who stopped in defense of Ronaldo. In the next move, Breno Bidon hit from outside the area and the ball hit the crossbar.
After Corinthians’ fulminating start, Bahia managed to calm the match and escape with sporadic moves. Rogério Ceni’s team had little possession of the ball, but did not suffer much defensively.
In the final minutes, Bahia started to play with one player less, after Michel Araújo received a second yellow card and was sent off. Even with one more, Corinthians abused crosses and barely managed to scare goalkeeper Ronaldo, while Tricolor almost scored a third with Kike Oliveira, who stopped at Hugo Souza.
Upcoming games
The two teams return to the field at the weekend, in separate tournaments.
Corinthians will go to Brasília to face Flamengo, in the Supercopa Rei. The final is scheduled for 4pm (Brasília time), on Sunday (1st).
On the same day, but at 6:30 pm (Brasília time), Bahia hosts Porto, in the sixth round of the Bahia Championship.
