With Pedro 'knocking on the door' to return to the pitch, Juninho has pleased coach Filipe Luís

The mission of making Flamengo win again in the Libertadores debut after three years was taken on by Juninho . It was up to the striker, previously little known in Brazil and signed from Azerbaijan under some suspicion from the fans, to come off the bench and secure a hard-fought 1-0 win over Deportivo Táchira last Thursday in Venezuela. In his first time playing in the continent's biggest tournament, he became a hero with his first touch of the ball.

Juninho was voted the best on the pitch by both CONMEBOL and the red-blacks on Flamengo's social media. And to mark the feat in the first round, the club joked with the striker by posting an image of an action figure of the player , with the Venezuelan flag and hands making the traditional celebratory gesture on the packaging.

GOOD SEQUENCE

The goal against Téchira is not an isolated incident. Juninho has actually put together a sequence of good moments in Flamengo 's recent games, since the final of the Campeonato Carioca. Check it out:

• In the first Fla-Flu match of the final, he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory at Maracanã (which ended up also being the winning goal).
• In the return match, he gave two great assists for goals that were eventually disallowed by VAR. In the first, he set up Plata, but the referee called a controversial foul at the start of the play.
• In the second, he left Michael with an open goal to finish, but the VAR disallowed it for offside at the start of the play, and the score ended 0-0.
• In the opening game of the Brasileirão (a 1-1 draw with Inter at Maracanã), Juninho was heavily criticized for missing a chance when he came face to face with Anthoni and hit the post. However, another angle revealed that the goalkeeper managed to make a slight deflection that ruled out the goal.
• And against Deportivo Táchira, he scored with his chest (in the best Pedro style) the relief goal that guaranteed victory in a game that was heading for a bitter draw in Venezuela.

PETER'S RETURN

Juninho started this sequence of good moments just before the return of the number 9, who has recovered from a serious injury and has a good chance of being included next week, against Central Córdoba , from Argentina. Meanwhile, the reinforcement for the 2025 season, who has been praised by Filipe Luís, should have a new chance to show his worth this Sunday , at 6:30 pm (Brasília time), against Vitória at Barradão, in the second round of the Brazilian Championship.