Flamengo qualified for the round of 16 of the Libertadores Cup after defeating Universidad Católica (Chile) 3-0, on Tuesday night (17) at the Maracanã stadium. This result was especially important for coach Paulo Sousa, who has received a lot of criticism for his work.
??⚽?? Classified! For Group H, the @Flamengo won the @ Crusaders by 3-0 in @maracana and secured in the round of 16 of CONMEBOL #Liberators.
? Willian Arão, Everton Ribeiro and Pedro scored the red-black goals.#GloriaEterna pic.twitter.com/jg1xGH7bJn
— CONMEBOL Libertadores (@LibertadoresBR) May 18, 2022
With the victory at home, Rubro-Negro remains in the lead of Group H, now with 13 points. In this way, Flamengo stamped its spot in the knockout stage of the continental competition.
The victory over Universidad Católica served to soften the criticism of Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa, who has been blamed for the poor performances of the Carioca team, especially in the Brazilian Championship, where Rubro-Negro comes from a sequence of four no-win games.
Flamengo started the match well and soon had a crystal clear opportunity to open the scoring. In the fourth minute Gabriel Barbosa received a great pass in depth and, in the face of goalkeeper Sebastián Pérez, failed to finish.
Let’s go for more, Nation! #VamosFlamengo
? @ gilvandesouza9 / CRF pic.twitter.com/0kI65CIrZB
— Flamengo (@Flamengo) May 18, 2022
However, two minutes later, the team from Gávea managed to open the scoring, when the Uruguayan Arrascaeta took a corner and Willian Arão did not forgive with his head.
Coach Paulo Sousa’s team continued to improve, and even in the first stage he widened at 38. Matheuzinho received from Arrascaeta on the right wing and crossed to Bruno Henrique, who supported Everton Ribeiro to leave his.
In the final stage, the dynamics remained very similar, with Flamengo showing a good volume of play, but losing many opportunities. However, in the penultimate minute of regulation time, striker Pedro, who came on for Gabriel Barbosa, scored a great goal to crown the victory. Shirt 21 received from João Gomes, gave two cuts to Asta-Buruaga and hit with violence to score.
?⚫ It’s Mengão in the round of 16!
?? For the fifth year in a row, the @Flamengo will be in the knockout stages of CONMEBOL #Liberators.#GloriaEterna pic.twitter.com/a9F98SQeRb
— CONMEBOL Libertadores (@LibertadoresBR) May 18, 2022
Now Flamengo focuses on the Brazilian, where they play Goiás on Saturday (21). In Libertadores, Flamengo will play again on Tuesday (24), against Sporting Cristal (Peru).
