Gonzalo Plata praises Flamengo fans and projects the future: "It's going to be very special"

After their debut in the Libertadores, with a victory over Deportivo Táchira-VEN, Flamengo turns their attention to the Brazilian Championship. This Sunday (6), the opponent will be Vitória, who are in last place in the table.

For the match in Salvador, Filipe Luís will not have defender Danilo and left-back Viña available , who are still recovering from injuries. Pedro has been released, but has not yet been named, generating expectations for mid-April.

REINFORCEMENTS FOR THE MATCH

The red-and-black coach received important reinforcements for the game. Gerson, Arrascaeta, Wesley and Plata, who did not play in Venezuela, are available again at Barradão . The doubt is Uruguayan De La Cruz, who may be spared due to load control. The midfielder has started all of the club's last five games, completing 90 minutes in two of them.

LINEUP FOR TODAY

With the return of the quartet, the likely lineup includes Rossi; Wesley, Léo Ortiz, Léo Pereira and Alex Sandro; Erick Pulgar, Gerson and Arrascaeta; Luiz Araújo, Gonzalo Plata and Bruno Henrique. If they choose to start the match with De La Cruz, the tendency is that Luiz Araújo will leave the team. Thus, Arrascaeta would also receive a little more freedom in the sector.

The match between Vitória and Flamengo is part of the second round of the Brazilian Championship. At Barradão, the home of the Bahian team, the ball will start rolling at 6:30 pm (Brasília time). The Mais Querido enters the field in tenth place in the table, after Saturday's results. Vitória, in turn, remains in last place after losing its debut, to Juventude, by 2 to 0.

The mission of making Flamengo win again in the Libertadores debut after three years was taken on by Juninho . It was up to the striker, previously little known in Brazil and signed from Azerbaijan under some suspicion from the fans, to come off the bench and secure a hard-fought 1-0 win over Deportivo Táchira last Thursday in Venezuela. In his first time playing in the continent's biggest tournament, he became a hero with his first touch of the ball.

Juninho was voted the best on the pitch by both CONMEBOL and the red-blacks on Flamengo's social media. And to mark the feat in the first round, the club joked with the striker by posting an image of an action figure of the player , with the Venezuelan flag and hands making the traditional celebratory gesture on the packaging.

GOOD SEQUENCE

The goal against Téchira is not an isolated incident. Juninho has actually put together a sequence of good moments in Flamengo 's recent games, since the final of the Campeonato Carioca. Check it out:

• In the first Fla-Flu match of the final, he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory at Maracanã (which ended up also being the winning goal).
• In the return match, he gave two great assists for goals that were eventually disallowed by VAR. In the first, he set up Plata, but the referee called a controversial foul at the start of the play.
• In the second, he left Michael with an open goal to finish, but the VAR disallowed it for offside at the start of the play, and the score ended 0-0.
• In the opening game of the Brasileirão (a 1-1 draw with Inter at Maracanã), Juninho was heavily criticized for missing a chance when he came face to face with Anthoni and hit the post. However, another angle revealed that the goalkeeper managed to make a slight deflection that ruled out the goal.
• And against Deportivo Táchira, he scored with his chest (in the best Pedro style) the relief goal that guaranteed victory in a game that was heading for a bitter draw in Venezuela.

PETER'S RETURN

Juninho started this sequence of good moments just before the return of the number 9, who has recovered from a serious injury and has a good chance of being included next week, against Central Córdoba , from Argentina. Meanwhile, the reinforcement for the 2025 season, who has been praised by Filipe Luís, should have a new chance to show his worth this Sunday , at 6:30 pm (Brasília time), against Vitória at Barradão, in the second round of the Brazilian Championship.

São Paulo attacking midfielder Lucas Moura revealed that he made efforts to bring left-back Alex Sandro to the São Paulo team before his transfer to Flamengo. In an interview with the program "Globo Esporte", Lucas said that, upon hearing the rumors about Alex Sandro's possible arrival at São Paulo, he contacted the player in an attempt to convince him to sign with the São Paulo club.

"I tried every way

"When Alex Sandro went to Flamengo, there were rumors that he was coming to São Paulo. I tried everything : 'So, how are you?' But, unfortunately, it didn't work. I have to use social media to help the club I work for," said the player.

Despite Lucas's efforts, Alex Sandro chose to sign with Flamengo. The left-back, who ended a nine-season cycle at Juventus, was announced by Rubro-Negro in August 2024. Factors such as Flamengo's sporting project, the financial offer and the presence of old acquaintances , such as coach Tite and defender David Luiz, who were at the club at the time, weighed in on the player's decision.

With that, São Paulo did not run out of options for left-back. The club signed Enzo Díaz and Wendell to reinforce the position, solving the shortage in the sector.

LUCAS DID THE SAME WITH OSCAR

This was not the first time that Lucas Moura tried to intervene in negotiations to reinforce São Paulo . He also contacted Oscar, who was a target of Flamengo in several windows, to probe the possibility of returning to the club.

“Lucas sent me a message too. He wanted to know if it would work out or not, he sent me a message. We made a great partnership at the base,” said Oscar, to SPFC Play.

Flamengo and São Paulo faced each other in the pre-season, in a friendly match in the USA, which ended in a goalless draw. The teams will face each other twice in the Brasileirão.