historic night for Marcelo Vieira. The former Real Madrid winger was decisive in the final of the Carioca Championship played at the Maracaná between Fluminense and Flamengo and ended with a thrashing for Flu to win the title.
Marcelo scored for the first time since returning to Fluminense, the club where he was formed and left 17 years ago. Cano wasted a penalty, but signed a double and Alexsander completed the exhibition of the Laranjeiras neighborhood club, which had lost the first leg 2-0, also at the stadium in the north of Rio de Janeiro.
Flamengo’s full-back Ayrton Lucas scored when the game was already set.
fluminensewhich had also won the 2022 edition, adds 33 titles of the regional tournament of the state of Rio de Janeirofour less than his rival, whose coach, the Portuguese Vítor Pereira, was practically without support to continue in office.
Flamengo, the current Copa Libertadores champion, did not have the Chileans Arturo Vidal and Erick Pulgar, nor the Uruguayan Giorgian de Arrascaeta, all injured.
Flamengo put goalkeeper Santos, center-back David Luiz, Uruguayan winger Guillermo Varela, midfielders Gerson and Thiago Maia and national team forwards Pedro, Gabriel Barbosa ‘Gabigol’ and Everton on the field.
The winger Filipe Luís and the World Cup player Everton Ribeiro also jumped from the reserve bench, but they did not manage to straighten the course of the red and black team.
With the urgency of victory to overcome the 2-0 deficit, coach Fernando Diniz’s team went for the victory from the initial whistle and on 26 minutes, after eluding Everton and Gerson, Marcelo scored the first goal of the match.
Five minutes later and without letting Flamengo react, a counterattack by Paulo Henrique Ganso, with a pinpoint assist of 10, left Cano facing Santos to expand to 2-0 in the 31st minute.
With the series even, Fluminense went off encouraged at half-time and Flamengo crestfallen.
In the second half, Flamengo wanted to impose conditions, but a handball by Fabrício Bruno in the area was sanctioned as a penalty.
At minute 55, after Santos saved Cano’s penalty, the rebound fell to the Argentine again to make it 3-0 and thus score his 18th goal of the season, 16 of them in the Carioca Championship.
Flamengo tried to discount, but at minute 64 a shot from the winger Guga was defended by Santos and, again on a rebound, Alexsander scored the fourth.
In stoppage time, a projection by Matheus França released Ayrton Lucas, who had no problem beating goalkeeper Fábio and sealing the final 4-1.
