Fortaleza vs Internacional Prediction: Fortaleza Starting the Tournament at Home

In the upcoming fixture of the Brazil Serie A, Matchday 1 Fortaleza will be hosting Internacional at the Arena Castelão in Fortaleza. With Brazil Serie A just starting, the two sides are likely to align their players accordingly. Fortaleza will be missing out on Lucas Crispim, Joao Ricardo, and Dudu due to injuries. On the other hand, Internacional will be missing Mauricio, Luiz Adriano, Gabriel Mercado, Mario Fernandes, Fabricio Bustos, and Charles Aranguiz. Irrespective of the injuries, the two sides will definitely get their best available players to line up for the upcoming contest. Fortaleza and Internacional last played each other in August 2022, and the match resulted in Fortaleza winning a clean sheet (3-0). Continue reading to find out more about the upcoming matchup and predicted opening lineups.

Going in the matchup, Fortaleza is coming off a motivating win against Aguia de Maraba (6-1) in the Copa do Brasil’s fixture. In the last outing, Dudu, Brayan Ceballos, Guilherme, Thiago Galhardo, and Yago Pikachu scored goals. Fortaleza has been quite consistent in the contest, winning three of the last five matches played. With an unbeaten run in the last four matches played, Fortaleza will be starting the prime tournament with reasonably high confidence. In the last five matches played, Fortaleza has scored 16 goals, averaging 3.20 goals per game. Hence, Fortaleza will be fancying its chances to score at least 2 or more goals against Internacional tomorrow. 

Fernando Miguel; Tinga, Emanuel Brítez, Titi, Bruno Pacheco; Lucas Sasha, Caio Alexandre; Moisés, Juan Martín Lucero, Tomás Pochettino; Thiago Galhardo.

Going in the matchup, Club Internacional is coming off a win against CSA (2-1) in the third round of Copa do Brasil. After conceding the opening goal in the 10th minute of play, Club Internacional did manage to come back strong and score goals in the 24th and 50th minute of play. Alan Patrick was the man in the spotlight, scoring in the most crunch situations of the game. With 58% ball possession and 11 shots on target, Club Internacional was spot-on against CSA. In the last five matches played, Internacional has scored 8 goals in the last five matches played across different tournaments, averaging 1.60 goals per game. Against the decent scoring average, Club Internacional has conceded just 5 goals in the last five, averaging 1.00 goals per game. Hence, Internacional is likely to produce reasonable competition to Fortaleza’s winning form. 

Keiller; Fabricio Bustos, Vitão, Gabriel Mercado, Thauan Lara; Johnny, Carlos De Pena; Maurício, Alan Patrick, Wanderson; Luiz Adriano.

Going in the matchup, Club Internacional has lost three away fixtures, and Fortaleza has won its last three home matches. Hence, the advantage of starting at home is clear; therefore, I am backing Fortaleza to win the upcoming outing and the match total to be over 2.5 goals. The two sides have demonstrated great skill when it comes to clearing the defense and striking the ball in the net. Hence, I am expecting both teams to score positively. 

• Fortaleza to Win for 2.05
• Total Over 2.5 for 2.20
• Both Teams to Score - Yes for 1.95