PEDRO CELEBRATES FLAMENGO'S GREAT PERFORMANCE, BUT SAYS: "NOTHING GAINED"

FlaBasquete has an international challenge ahead in the FIBA Intercontinental Club Cup , considered the basketball world championship. The red-black team debuts this Thursday (18) against NBA G League United, from the USA, at 6 am (Brasília time).

On September 19th, also at 6 am, Flamengo faces the Illawarra Hawks of Australia , with decisive matches scheduled for the weekend. All matches will be broadcast exclusively on Flamengo TV , bringing every play of the competition directly to the red-and-black nation.

BROADCAST AND COMMENTARY TEAM

João Guilherme will be the narrator, with commentary from Flamengo basketball legend Duda Machado. Emerson Santos, also known as Emershow, will be reporting from the courts in Singapore .

TEAM PREPARATION AND EXPECTATIONS

Under the command of Sérgio Hernández, known as "Oveja," Flamengo held a training camp in Spain, facing local teams. The coach highlighted the club's confidence and structure: " We are very happy and excited to represent the continent in a competition of this magnitude. We want to put Flamengo at the top of the world – where it should always be ," stated Oveja.

FLAMENGO'S HISTORY IN THE CLUB WORLD CUP

Flamengo has already won the world title on two occasions: 2014: Victory over Maccabi Haifa (Israel), 90 to 77, at Maracanãzinho, with highlights for Marcelinho Machado, Marquinhos, Laprovittola and Olivinha . 2022: Two-time championship in Egypt, beating Hereda San Pablo Burgos (Spain), with Yago, Olivinha and Luke Martínez leading the team.

Flamengo held a training session at Ninho do Urubu on Wednesday afternoon (17) with the entire squad on the field. However, Pulgar, Jorginho and Alex Sandro are still doing specific work and will not be available for the game on Thursday (18), at 9:30 pm, at Maracanã, for the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores.

Chilean midfielder Erick Pulgar has returned to action on the pitch, but still needs at least two weeks to be cleared for the final phase of physical conditioning. He is recovering from a fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot, suffered in June.

FLAMENGO'S LOSINGS

Jorginho and Alex Sandro are also out of the squad . The Italian-Brazilian midfielder is treating a muscle swelling in his left thigh and is undergoing transition activities supervised by physiotherapists. The left-back, meanwhile, continues to recover from a left calf injury.

Without the trio, Flamengo should enter the field with: Rossi; Varela (or Emerson Royal), Léo Ortiz, Léo Pereira and Ayrton Lucas; De la Cruz (or Allan), Saúl and Arrascaeta; Gonzalo Plata, Bruno Henrique (or Pedro) and Samuel Lino.

STUDENTS IN THE LIBERTADORES

On the other side, coach Eduardo Domínguez projects a balanced match and highlighted Estudiantes' confidence in achieving a good result away from home. The Argentine team had a solid campaign in the group stage, eliminating Cerro Porteño in the round of 16 , and has three away wins, losing only to Botafogo .

Conmebol released, on Friday night (12), the refereeing scale for the match between Flamengo and Estudiantes de La Plata , valid for the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores. The game will be played next Thursday (18), at 9:30 pm (Brasília time) , at Maracanã, with ESPN broadcast throughout Brazil.

Colombian referee Andrés Rojas was appointed to officiate the match. Well-known to Flamengo fans, he has refereed four Flamengo matches, with a positive record for the Rio de Janeiro club: three wins and one draw.

The most memorable match refereed by Rojas occurred in 2017 , when Flamengo thrashed Palestino 5-0 in the Copa Sudamericana at the Luso-Brasileiro Stadium. In that match, Vinícius Jr. scored his first professional goal for the red-and-black team.

CONMEBOL IMPLEMENTS NEW COMMUNICATION

In addition to announcing the schedule, Conmebol announced this Tuesday (16) a new feature for the quarterfinal stage. From this stage onwards, the main referees will immediately communicate their decisions to the entire public present at the stadium, increasing the transparency of the arbitration process.

BRAZILIAN ARBITRATION WAS ALSO APPOINTED

The winner of the Flamengo vs. Estudiantes match will face the winner of the Vélez Sarsfield vs. Racing match in the semifinals. For this bracket, CONMEBOL has selected Brazilian duo Wilton Pereira Sampaio as the referee and Rodolpho Toski as the VAR manager.