While most of the red-and-black fans are already biting their nails in anticipation of the Copa Libertadores match against Universidad Católica at 21:50 p.m., Emperor Adriano continues his preparations for Sunday's derby against Botafogo. The Gávea number 10 trained at Ninho do Urubu with the players who weren't included in the squad for the trip and expressed great optimism.

"I'm definitely going to play. I won't play unless God wants me to," said the Emperor, who left the training center smiling.

The center forward has already been cleared by the Medical Department and has been improving his fitness for the Rio Cup final. The Emperor has been out of action for four games but is expected to return on Sunday. Coach Alexandre Sanz, who led Wednesday's training at the training center, believes the striker is fit to play.

"He's been training very well during the week, evolving naturally, and tomorrow (Thursday) we're going to give him another heavy training session so that he's very close to ideal on Sunday," he explained.

Adriano and the players who didn't make the trip to Chile will train again this Thursday, but this time in Gávea, at 15:30 pm.