Flamengo will receive Corinthians on Tuesday to define a place in the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores, with the 0-2 advantage that the red and black team achieved in the first leg in Sao Paulo.
The match between the two most popular teams in Brazil will be played at the Maracana stadium, the stronghold of a Flamengo that has gone eight games without defeat and that in recent weeks has packed both the national league and the Copa Libertadores.
Since last June, when coach Dorival Júnior took over the reins of the team, Flamengo has refreshed his memory and has shown much of the game that, in 2019, led him to win almost everything he played, at the time led by the Portuguese Jorge Jesús .
Dorival has restored the confidence of Pedro and Gabriel Barbosa ‘Gabigol’, two heavyweight forwards, has the Uruguayan Georgian De Arrascaeta again at a great moment and has given solidity to a defense in which David Luiz and Philip Luis.
In addition, he has added the power of Chilean veteran Arturo Vidal in recovering the ball and thus bets on a game of possession that Corinthians did not know how to counteract last week.
In his first matches at Flamengo, while establishing himself in the team, Vidal entered the second half as a shock and is just one of the key pieces of a luxury bench that also has figures of the stature of Everton Cebolinha, Diego Ribas and Marino.
Corinthians, although it remains in second place in the Brazilian league, in which Flamengo is fifth, is still not convincing and suffers from an irregularity that appears above all in decisive matches.
Portuguese coach Vítor Pereira has had to deal with injuries to his squad in recent weeks. For the match against Flamengo he will not have Paulinho and Maycon, and he has the experienced William in doubt, who also has offers to return to English football and does not seem to be satisfied in Corinthians.
Instead, he brings back Renato Augusto, another weighty veteran but who in the last two months has only played half an hour, in last Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Avaí in the national league, and who will possibly start against Flamengo.
Pereira also bets on the Paraguayan Fabián Balbuena to provide security to his defense and control the offensive power of the Rio de Janeiro team against the 60,000 Flamengo fans who will meet at the Maracana, which is only expected to have about 4,000 “Corinthians”.
Likely lineups:
Flemish: Saints; Rodinei, David Luiz, Léo Pereira and Filipe Luís; Thiago Maia, João Gomes and De Arrascaeta; Everton Ribeiro, Gabriel Barbosa and Pedro.
Coach: Dorival Junior.
Corinthians: Cassio; Fagner, Balbuena, Gil and Fábio Santos; Du, Fausto and Renato Augusto; Roger Guedes, Yuri and Mosquito.
Coach: Vitor Pereira.
Referee: Uruguayan Esteban Ostojich, assisted on the wings by his compatriots Richard Trinidad and Carlos Barreiro. Stadium: Maracana, Rio de Janeiro. EFE.
