ATTENTIVE: FLAMENGO HAS AN IMPRESSIVE BRAND PLAYING AS A VISITOR

On Thursday night (19), Flamengo hosted Peñarol at Maracanã for the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores da América and came out with an unfavorable result. In front of more than 64 thousand fans, the team led by Tite had several opportunities, but failed to score.

The Uruguayan team took advantage of one of the few chances and, with a goal from Cabrera, secured a 1-0 victory. Now, Mengão will need to reverse the deficit in the second leg, scheduled for next Thursday- fair (26), in Montevideo.

This Thursday's defeat puts the Rio team in a delicate situation. To guarantee qualification to the semi-finals, Mais Querido will need to win by two goals at the Campeón del Siglo Stadium. A simple victory will take the decision to penalties, while any other score guarantees Peñarol's place. The result was even more painful for the club, as Flamengo has not lost at Maracanã in Libertadores competitions since 2019, also to Peñarol.

The return game is full of expectations, mainly due to the historic rivalry between the two teams in the South American competition. The winner of this duel will face, in the semifinals, the winner of the clash between Botafogo and São Paulo. On the other side of the bracket, there are River Plate (Argentina), Colo-Colo (Chile), Fluminense and Atlético-MG, which makes the path to the final even more competitive.

FLAMENGO AND PEÑAROL RETURN TO THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Before the decisive match for the Libertadores, both teams have commitments for their national leagues. CRF travels to Porto Alegre to face Grêmio, next Sunday (22), at 6:30 pm, for the Brazilian Championship. Peñarol faces Cerro, also on Sunday, at 7pm, away from home, in the Clausura of the Uruguayan Championship.

Flamengo entered the field on Thursday night. With a packed Maracanã, Tite's men played the first match of the Libertadores quarter-finals against Peñarol (URU). The objective was to play a good game and take an advantage for the return game, next week. In this sense, the Rio team ended up disappointing the more than 60 thousand paying guests at the stadium and lost 1-0, in one of the team's worst matches of the year.

Summary

Peñarol It started well and Peñarol soon showed that it would play on the red and black error. Therefore, the Uruguayans opened the scoring after 12 minutes, with Cabrera, in a counterattack. Soon after, Flamengo responded with Plata's header hitting the post. But the red and black team had difficulty creating chances. In the final stretch of the first half, Flamengo grew and had great opportunities to draw. Bruno Henrique, alone, headed over goalkeeper Aguerre, who also made a great save from Arrascaeta's shot.

In the second half, Flamengo came back even better, but came up against the strong Uruguayan marking and the lack of creativity to reach the opponent's goal. Tite moved the sides, which gave Flamengo more speed, however, it had little effect due to a terrible night from Arrascaeta and De la Cruz. As a result, the result did not change and now Flamengo needs to reverse the situation away from home next week.

What now?

With the result, Flamengo will need to win by at least two goals to guarantee one of the places in the Libertadores semi-finals. The match takes place in Uruguay, next Thursday. However, Fla needs to turn the key, because there is a Brazilian Championship game to play on the weekend. Tite's men will face Grêmio, away from home, next Sunday, at 6:30 pm;

Last Wednesday (18), representatives from Flamengo and Caixa Econômica Federal held another meeting to resolve the impasse surrounding the Gasologista land, acquired by the club in July. The meeting had the support of Rio de Janeiro City Hall and the Attorney General's Office (AGU), and a new meeting scheduled for next week, in Brasília, could seal the definitive agreement. The information was released by journalist Diogo Dantas, from the newspaper "O Globo".

Mengão's board of directors, represented by president Rodolfo Landim, vice-general Rodrigo Dunshee, CEO Reinaldo Belotti and vice-president of equity Marcos Bodin, was optimistic about the possibility of a solution soon. Caixa questions the amount paid by the club at the land auction, but everything indicates that an additional amount could resolve the legal conflict by next month.

The meeting was also attended by deputy Pedro Paulo and the club's director of external relations, Cacau Cotta, who have acted as intermediaries between the club and the mayor from Rio, Eduardo Paes. In August, a meeting involving the bank's president, Carlos Vieira, president Lula and mayor Eduardo Paes had already signaled the path to an agreement.

Mais Querido's director of external relations, Cacau Cotta, highlighted that the agreement is the ideal way to give peace of mind to the club. "For the club, a good agreement is always better than an eternal discussion about values. The land has already been expropriated. The agreement is ideal to eliminate any doubts and for Flamengo to have the necessary peace of mind to begin the work", said Cotta.