Do you know the "Campeón Del Siglo"? Discover the stadium where Flamengo will play against Peñarol

Flamengo will decide its future in the Libertadores next Thursday (26) at the Campeón del Siglo, home of Peñarol, needing to reverse the disadvantage of the 1-0 defeat at Maracanã. The stadium in Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, is less than ten years old and cost more than R$260 million to build.What is the stadium like?

It was opened on March 28, 2016 , eight years ago. The opening match was the friendly against River Plate, with Peñarol winning 4-1 — Diego Forlán scored the first goal there. The cornerstone of the construction was laid at the end of December 2013, with work lasting just over two years.

The stadium is FIFA standard, with capacity for 40 thousand fans. It has 13 entrances for the general stands, four for the boxes and four two-story tribunes each. The pitch is 105m long and 68m wide.

The arena was built from scratch, at a cost of around R$262 million. The total value for completing the works was approximately US$8 million above the estimated US$40 million, according to the Uruguayan newspaper El Observador.

The Campeón del Siglo, due to its modernity and location, has already it was called the "Itaquerão" of Montevideo — despite the cost being five times lower. The comparison is made because the arena was built on land that is more than 15 km from the city center, with controversy over its construction and with the hope of bringing economic development to the region. On the other hand, the Corinthians arena needed more than R$1 billion to be completed.

The Peñarol stadium even has Brazilian technology. The company Imply is responsible for creating the access management system for people and vehicles, with biometric control, in addition to a 79.6m² screen inside the stadium. The partnership with the Brazilian company dates back to 2018.

It is considered a "boiler" and an asset for Peñarol for qualifying for the Libertadores semi-final. Coach Diego Aguirre praised the atmosphere at the team's home after saying that Maracanã was "mute" with the visitors' 1-0 victory in the first leg of the quarterfinals. b>

Peñarol has a poor record against Brazilian teams at their stadium. The duel with Flamengo will be the Uruguayan team's tenth against opponents from Brazil — the first game was against Palmeiras, in 2017. There have been five defeats, one draw and three wins in these clashes so far. The most recent was this year, against Atlético-MG, which ended with Peñarol winning 2-0 in Group G.

The only draw was against Flamengo. In 2019, the teams faced each other in the group stage. Rubro-negro became champion that year. Fla has also trained there in 2021.