ACCORDING TO SPANISH NEWSPAPER, FLAMENGO AND BOTAFOGO DISPUTE TO HIRING GONZALO MONTIEL

After the tragic elimination of Flamengo in the Libertadores, against Peñarol, the journalist Renato Maurício Prado, wrote in his 'Uol' column, questions, for him, without answers, regarding the work of Tite and the Flamengo board in the current season.

Following in full:

1. How can a team that needs to win not shoot on goal? In two entire matches, against Peñarol (which spends less than 15% of Flamengo's salary on its football), there were only two shots towards the rival's goal.

2. How can a coach leave the club's most expensive signing, Carlos Alcaraz, on the bench, preferring to exchange Fabrício Bruno for David Luiz, as if that would make any difference?

3. How can a coach who calls himself a "chameleon", for "knowing how to play in different ways", attribute the resounding failure of his work to the injury of a center forward, Pedro, around whom the team's entire scheme was created?

4. How this scheme never worked, even with Pedro on the field, during most of the poor Libertadores campaign, with defeats to Bolívar. Palestinian and what not?

5. How could the work of a year, considered by many to be the best Brazilian coach in activity, been unable to produce even a draft team with the supposedly best squad in Brazil?

6. How did Carioquinha's impregnable defense become a sieve, Swiss cheese, even though it has admittedly good quality players?

7. How did De La Cruz and Arrascaeta start to play so badly? What's wrong with preparing both?

8. How do Rodolfo Landim and Marcos Braz still think they will win their respective elections with another year of collecting failures, like in 2023?

9. How can Flamengo believe that they will win the Copa do Brasil by continuing such poor work?

10. How has Tite not been fired yet?

Gerson regretted the elimination of Flamengo to Peñarol, this Thursday (26), in the quarter-finals of the Libertadores. The teams drew 0-0 in Uruguay — the Uruguayans had won the first game 1-0, at Maracanã. The midfielder spoke about Flamengo's anxiety in the search for a goal in tonight's game and assessed that the classification was lost in the first game. What did he say?

Anxiety about scoring a goal. We had a good first half, we accelerated the game in the second half, we got into his game. It's sad, difficult to talk about. Frustrated with the result, we lost classification on the first leg, at home.

Gerson, on ESPN

They played both series for one ball, they got it and it's their credit. That's what they planned. It's difficult to talk, it's sad, we wanted things. Now we have to raise our heads, we have Brazil and the Brazilian Cup ahead of us.

Léo Pereira

We are angry about the game we played at home, but after we scored the goal we started to accelerate a lot. We were very impatient and left something to be desired at home. Here we impose ourselves, I don't remember a clear chance for them. It's about apologizing to the fans, we still have the rest of the season, we have to work hard to win the title in the Copa do Brasil or the Brazilian Championship.

Fabrício Bruno

The team's next opponent Flamengo will be Athlético-PR, in a match valid for the Brazilian Championship. The duel is scheduled for 8pm, at Maracanã.

This Thursday (26), Flamengo and Peñarol (URU) will face each other in the second leg of the quarterfinals Copa Libertadores final. The match, which will be held at the Campeón del Siglo Stadium, in Montevideo, will decide who will advance to the semi-finals and will face Botafogo, who secured their qualification by beating São Paulo the night before. The duel could mark the first classic between Mais Querido and the black and white team at this stage of the continental tournament.

While awaiting the outcome of the match between Fla and Peñarol, Botafogo defender Alexander Barboza expressed excitement about the possibility of facing CRF in the semifinals. After Botafogo's classification in a dramatic game decided on penalties, Barboza commented on the next opponent, highlighting the pleasure of participating in great classics.

"I really enjoy playing in classics, but my whole family is from Uruguay, so I'm equally divided between the two teams", said the defender, without naming a favorite for this Thursday's clash. If Flamengo wins the place, this will be the first Rio classic played in a Libertadores semi-final, representing a milestone in the history of the competition for both teams.

Despite the expectation of a possible historic semi-final, Mengão must first guarantee their classification against Peñarol. To advance directly, the Rio team needs to beat their Uruguayan opponent by at least two goals. In case of a tie on the aggregate score, the decision will be on penalties. The match promises to be challenging for Rubro-Negro, who will play away from home and face pressure from the Uruguayan fans.

The Red-Black fans are confident in another good performance from their team, which they seek to overcome Peñarol and get closer to another Libertadores final. If it advances, the Flamengo will face Botafogo in an unprecedented clash that would go down in the history of Brazilian football.