Flamengo director films drone during squad training and makes cryptic publication

The Flamengo delegation that leaves this Tuesday afternoon for Montevideo, in Uruguay, will have something new: Gabigol returns to the list of related players after being left out of the last two games due to muscle pain, a consequence of fibrosis in the healing of an injury to his right thigh.

Like the 12 players spared from the match against Grêmio, Gabigol remained in Rio de Janeiro to complete his recovery and has trained normally with the squad in recent days. Flamengo will decide next Thursday, at 7pm (Brasília time), at the Campeón del Siglo Stadium, who will advance to the Libertadores semi-final in a duel against Peñarol.

Tite will still define the lineup in training on Wednesday, in Montevideo, but the expectation is that Gabigol will start on the bench. He has been appointed as the replacement for Pedro, who is out for the season due to injury, but is still looking to regain the space he lost at Flamengo.

Gabigol lost his place at the end of the Jorge Sampaoli era, but continued to be a important piece for Tite. Since the coach's arrival in October last year, he has acted as a kind of 12th player, being the most used substitute: he participated in 30 of the 66 games. However, in terms of time on the field, it is only the 19th most used (see the table below, according to the 'ge' portal).

Gabigol also appears behind eight other reserves in playing time and , with just three appearances as a starter in 2024, is the player on the main squad with the fewest appearances among the starters, alongside Matheus Gonçalves, Victor Hugo (on loan to Göztepe, from Turkey) and Pablo (currently at Botafogo).

After the 3-2 defeat to Grêmio last Sunday, Tite was asked why he had not yet recovered Gabigol in the same way he did with Cebolinha and Luiz Araújo. The coach attributed the difficulties to the attacker's physical problems.

However, it is important to highlight that, in 2024, Gabigol was only in the medical department on two occasions: once in March, when he suffered from muscle pain and lost two games, and the most recent injury to his right thigh, which ruled him out of five matches.

In addition, Gabigol was away for 36 days between March and April, due to a suspension related to an alleged case of fraud in an anti-doping test, and also lost three games in July due to a negotiation with Palmeiras and statements made by his manager.

This year, Gabigol was listed by Tite in 33 matches, playing in 26 of them , with only three as starters. On seven occasions, he did not leave the bench, and is the 24th player on the squad in number of games as a starter. In total, he has played 905 minutes on the field, which places him as the 21st athlete with the most playing time in 2024.

After the end of the 27th round, where Flamengo was defeated by Grêmio by a score of 3 to 2, commentator and narrator Galvão Bueno made a publication on his social networks warning about Mais Querido's situation in the table. The narrator mentioned that Rubro-Negro is getting further and further away from the Brasileirão title.

“No change in the top six placed in the Brasileirão, but it was a great round for Botafogo, Palmeiras and Fortaleza, who won their games and continue in the fight for the title. Flamengo, São Paulo and Bahia lost and are getting further and further away from leader Botafogo”, he pondered on his Instagram.

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A post shared by Galvão Bueno (@galvaobueno)