Botafogo and Nova Iguaçu face off this Saturday afternoon, February 3, 2024, starting at 4 pm, in a game valid for the 6th round of the Guanabara Cup, for the Carioca Championship. The duel will be played at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium, in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Botafogo
Botafogo has been leading one of the best campaigns in this edition of Cariocão, but it still leaves something to be desired in some aspects and the proximity in relation to the number of points of the other competitors in the G-4 makes it come under pressure for this match.
In the last round, the Botafoguense team faced Portuguesa-RJ and ended up suffering a 1-1 draw, also with the advantage of playing at home, but hopes to get a better outcome this weekend, when they will return to play against their fans.
Glorioso is currently in second place on the Campeonato Carioca leaderboard, with 10 points achieved so far, having the same score as Fluminense, who leads the competition at the moment, however, the difference in points in relation to the first club outside the G-4 is only one point.
There were 3 wins, 1 draw and only 1 defeat in the last 5 official matches of the season. During this period, the black and white team showed all its strength by beating Madureira, Bangu and also Sampaio Corrêa-RJ, in addition to drawing with Portuguesa-RJ and losing to Boavista.
Playing as home team, at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium, the Botafogo team recorded a recent campaign with 3 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats in the last 10 matches played.
Nova Iguaçu
And on the visitors’ side there is the Nova Iguaçu squad, which in turn is one of the great sensations among clubs with little purchasing power and wants to take advantage of the good phase to score the second consecutive victory, with a chance of even falling asleep at the top of the table.
In the last round, “Mechanic Orange” already showed quality by defeating Vasco by the score of 2-0 amid an excellent performance from the team.
Nova Iguaçu currently occupies third place in the league table with the same 10 points as Botafogo, their current opponent, only having a disadvantage in the tiebreaker criteria.
They recorded 3 wins, 1 draw and only 1 defeat in the last 5 times they entered the field officially during the season. During this period they beat Bangu, Sampaio Corrêa-RJ and also Vasco, in addition to drawing with Flamengo and losing to Fluminense.
As a visitor, the Nova Iguaçu team recorded a campaign with only 1 win, 2 draws and 7 defeats in the last 10 matches played in this condition.
Conclusion:
As it is a duel between two of the three best teams in the Campeonato Carioca so far, which have the same score as the leader Fluminense, a very busy match offensively is expected, with the goals market as the best bet option.