Former Vasco striker reveals that his dream was always to play for Flamengo: "It almost worked"

The Peñarol (URU) team was excited from the beginning of the trip to Rio de Janeiro, where they will face Flamengo, in the quarter-finals of the Libertadores. In addition to cheering the players on the flight towards the 'Marvelous City', the Uruguayans posted a montage of Christ the Redeemer with the club's flag.

As soon as they landed on Rio de Janeiro soil, the Uruguayan club published an image of a of the city's main tourist attractions. In addition to the photo, the team wrote the following message: “Peñarol em Rio”, alluding to Rock In Rio. Afterwards, a video showing the arrival of the athletes at Galeão Airport was also published.

Peñarol reached the quarterfinals of the Libertadores after beating The Strongest (BOL) in the round of 16. In the first game, the Uruguayan team defeated their opponent 4-0. On the way back, the Bolivian team even won by a score of 1-0, however, it was not enough to take away the classification of Diego Aguirre's men.

Before the game against Flamengo, Peñarol played in the Championship Uruguayan. On Saturday (14), Rubro-Negro's opponent beat Rampla (URU), by a score of 4 to 0. Given this situation, they remained undefeated in the national tournament.

Flamengo is coming off a bitter draw with Vasco on Sunday (15), however, they will have reinforcements for this Thursday's duel (19). Recovered from a thigh injury, De La Cruz is back in the team. In addition to the Uruguayan, Alex Sandro, Alcaraz and Gonzalo Plata were registered in the competition and, as a result, will be included in the clash.

Last Tuesday, the candidate for re-election for mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, denied the journalist Ancelmo Gois, from Globo. In a post on Instagram, the mayor informed that the city hall will be responsible for removing the megastructure on the gas meter site, different from what was reported. Furthermore, he guaranteed that Flamengo will have its new stadium, with the best conditions and security.

The news published by Ancelmo informs that Flamengo would have to pay R$100 million to remove a large gas structure present on land acquired by the club, which is owned by CEG and CEG-Rio, which are companies that are part of the gas concessionaire Naturgy.

According to the article, the companies were informed that Flamengo is the responsible for bearing the expenses, as provided for in one of the annexes to the land purchase and transfer contract. The clause, however, does not have a specified limit.

Paes stated that the values ​​for the transfer of the structure are different from what was pointed out in the article by Ancelmo Gois. Furthermore, it exempted Flamengo from any responsibility, and that the city hall has been planning to remove it for years.

“They are making me defend @flamengo more than I would like: let it be clear that this is not the The cost of this transfer and when it happens will be the responsibility of the city of Rio, which knows that this structure cannot be in an area that is already receiving so many residential buildings. It's been in our plans for a long time! Flamengo will have its new stadium there in the gasometer with all the quality and safety that the region demands and deserves. Period!”, published the mayor.

In participation in the “Charla Podcast” this Thursday (25), striker André “Balada”, revealed by Santos' youth teams, surprised by saying that he was close to playing for Flamengo in the last decade. According to the center forward, a last-minute turnaround took the player out of Rubro-Negro.

In an interview, André said that he was dissatisfied in Europe, and that he had finalized all the details with Flamengo. However, when he was already traveling to perform in Rio de Janeiro, he received a call that changed the fate of his career.

“I was at Dynamo Kiev, I already wanted to return to Brazil, but they They said no, and then I went to Bordeaux. But I stayed there for a while, I was already very sad, wanting to go back to Brazil and everything. Then I agreed with Flamengo, in 2011, it was Luxembourg, Ronaldinho, Patrícia Amorim as president”, said André, before completing.

“I agreed, I got on the plane, and when I stopped at the stopover at Germany, my manager calls me and says: 'Forget Flamengo, it's been agreed with Atlético-MG. It will land in Rio and go to Belo Horizonte’. And then I said: ‘That’s it, man. That it'. And then I went and agreed with Galo, but the right choice was Flamengo. At the time Vanderlei wanted me, then they even tried Kléber Gladiador, it was at that time”, he stated.

Those who didn’t follow André’s beginnings in football and only remember the end of his career, playing for lesser teams, may not understand Flamengo's interest in the striker in 2011. However, the center forward was seen with enormous potential, and was even called up to the Brazilian national team.

After moving up to Santos 2009 professionals, André became a starter in 2010 and formed an offensive quartet alongside Ganso, Robinho and Neymar. Flying, the striker was champion of São Paulo and the Copa do Brasil, competing for top scorers with Neymar. This year, he was called up by Mano Menezes for a friendly match with the Seleção.

Promising, the striker, however, failed to live up to expectations, but had a good career in Brazil, with spells at clubs such as Atlético-MG , Grêmio, Vasco and Sport.