The flamingo thrashed this Tuesday by 3-0 to the Chileans of the Catholic Universityqualified for the round of 16 of the Libertadores Cup as first in Group H with one game to go and alleviated the serious crisis he faces due to his poor results in the Brazilian Championship.
In a match at the Maracaná stadium in Rio de Janeiro that began with insults to the president of the Rio de Janeiro team, boos to goalkeeper Hugo and calls for the dismissal of Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa by the vast majority of the 43,532 spectators, Flamengo dominated and he easily prevailed with goals from William Arao, Éverton Ribeiro and Pedro.
With the result, the Rio de Janeiro club isolated itself in first place in Group H with 13 points after four wins and one draw; opened an unattainable advantage of 5 over Talleres, his escort in the standings and today tied 0-0 with Sporting Cristal. Incidentally, they eliminated Universidad Católica, which now has 4 points and no chance of reaching the first two.
In addition to guaranteeing a place in the round of 16 and reducing internal tension due to their poor performance in the Brazilian League -in which they are sixteenth-, Flamengo increased their current unbeaten record at the Maracaná to 14 games (11 wins and 3 draws) in commitments for the Libertadores. The Rio de Janeiro team has not lost in its stadium for the continental tournament since 2019.
‘Fla’ started very nervously and in just two minutes Andreas Pereira and Mateuzinho were booked. And at five Gabigol was reprimanded by the referee for his argument with Astudillo. But the nervousness came to an end in the 6th minute when midfielder William Arao, who has become the savior in recent games, took advantage of a corner kick taken by Uruguayan Giorgian de Arrascaeta to open the scoring with a header.
Last Saturday Arao scored two goals for the Brazilian Championship also with assists from Arrascaeta. With the goal, much celebrated by the reserves and coach Paulo Sousa, the partial advantage and the recovery of the confidence of the fans, who forgot the boos and began to show their support, Flamengo took control of the match and went on the attack .
The attacking trio made up of De Arrascaeta and strikers Bruno Henrique and Gabriel Barbosa once again showed their good understanding on the pitch and began to press with dangerous arrivals. That pressure paid off in the 31st minute when Everton Ribeiro, after a play involving Arrascaeta and Bruno Henrique, scored the second for the Brazilian team, also with a header inside the area.
Gabigol, Flamengo’s top scorer in the last three seasons, narrowly increased the lead twice in the final minutes of the first half, but goalkeeper Sebastián Pérez prevented what would be a thrashing.
Universidad Católica almost cut back at the last minute when Valencia hit the crossbar after a mistaken start by Hugo, quite criticized by the fans and who has been pointed out as being responsible for the team’s recent setbacks.
Everton Ribeiro (Flamengo) disputes the ball with Felipe Gutiérrez (Catholic University)
For the second half, faced with the need to find a comeback that could avoid elimination, the coach of the Catholic University, Rodrigo Valenzuela, decided to sacrifice defender Nahuén Paz to line up Gonzalo Tapia as third striker.
The Chilean team began to have more control over the ball but without generating danger, while Flamengo preferred to press in the center of the field and play on the counterattack, which increased their dangerousness and increased the arrivals of Arrascaeta, Gabigol and Bruno Henrique.
In an attempt to oxygenate their attack and give it speed by taking advantage of the partial advantage, the Flamengo coach replaced Gabigol and Bruno Henrique with the youngsters Pedro and Lázaro, which increased the dominance of the locals even more.
Despite losing an opportunity when he was left alone in front of the goalkeeper, Pedro scored the third and put definitive figures on the result with a minute to go after receiving assistance from Joao Gomes inside the area, eluding his marker twice and shooting with the left.
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