Filipe Luís will have an official presentation as Flamengo coach

With confirmation from Flamengo that Filipe Luís will be the club's interim coach until the end of the 2024 season, Mengão announced through its social networks the names of the professionals who will be alongside the former full-back as part of the technical committee in his work as coach of Mais Querido's main team. Filipe Luís will take command of Flamengo's main team with the support of three technical assistants: Ivan Palanco, Márcio Torres and Daniel Alegria. In addition to them, physical trainer Diogo Linhares will also be part of the technical committee. Ivan, Márcio and Diogo had already worked with Filipe in the under-20s, while Daniel was with him in the under-17s.

Spanish Ivan Palanco, 44, graduated from Barcelona and was hired in January at the request of former left-back Filipe Luís. From Tite's technical committee, Flamengo opted to keep technical assistant Vinicius Bergantin, who had recently been hired from Ferroviária, as well as performance analyst Bruno Baquete, who worked with the former coach of Mais Querido in the Brazilian National Team.

Filipe Luís, 39 years old, already has the B and A licenses from the CBF Academy, which enable him to sign national match summaries. However, he still does not have the Conmebol PRO License, required for international competitions since 2020.

“THE Clube de Regatas do Flamengo informs that coach Filipe Luís' committee will be made up of the following professionals:

Ivan Palanco - Technical Assistant;

Márcio Torres - Technical Assistant;

p>Daniel Alegria - Technical Assistant;

Diogo Linhares - Physical Trainer.

The assistant Vinicius Bergantin and performance analyst Bruno Baquete remain on the technical committee.”

With a contract with Inter Miami until December 2025, the Argentine star Lionel Messi wishes, according to the German newspaper Bild, to leave the United States to operate for the first time in South America. The news surprises Brazilian football, which has clubs like Flamengo, Corinthians and Palmeiras, capable of making investments of this size.

However, the biggest obstacle for Brazilian football is Messi's preference to return to Newell's Old Boys, the club where he started his career before moving to Barcelona at the age of 13. At Barça, Messi won 10 La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles and three FIFA Club World Cup titles.

After his long career at the Catalan club, the Argentine played for PSG, where he played alongside of Mbappé and Neymar, but without much success in the Champions League. Afterwards, he accepted the challenge of playing in the MLS for David Beckham's Inter Miami. Now, at 37 years old, Messi is considering the possibility of competing in the Libertadores on South American soil.

If Flamengo signed Messi, this would revive the club's great signings, like Romário in 1995, when Baixinho was the best player in the world and left Barcelona to play at Mengão. In 2011, Flamengo also repeated the feat by bringing in Ronaldinho Gaúcho, who came from Milan and had already been voted the best player in the world twice in the 2000s.

With Messi being a very distant dream, Flamengo is preparing for the duel against Corinthians in the first leg of the semifinals of the Brazilian Cup. The match will be on Wednesday (2) at 9:30 pm, Brasília time, and will be the first in which Filipe Luís will be in charge of Mengão's main team, after the dismissal of coach Tite.

The beginning of the afternoon on this red-black Monday was a presentation press conference. In this sense, Flamengo's fourth reinforcement in the window, the Ecuadorian Gonzalo Plata was officially introduced and gave an interview in the vulture's nest. 

The now number 45 rubro-negro, thanked the efforts of the Rio club's board of directors and remembered the "battle" that was the negotiation so that he could play for Fla.

As already mentioned the president (Rodolfo Landim) and Marcos (Braz), it has been a battle for a long time. When I was in Qatar, the issue became more complicated. When the offer from the biggest on the continent arrived, it was difficult to refuse. I'm very happy to have arrived here. I want to thank my agents and Flamengo. Once I arrived here, I feel very happy - he said.

— I feel like I'm part of a family, the players welcomed me very well. Talk to a world champion like David Luiz, who says he's counting on me. All the fans are supporting me and sending me lots of messages on Instagram. May the fans embrace me and welcome me well. I'll do my best to reciprocate - commented the new red-black reinforcement.