ROSSI TALKS ABOUT THE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE CONFRONTATION AGAINST MILLONARIOS: "WE DEPEND ON US"

Flamengo is the clear leader of the Brazilian Championship. On Thursday night (4), in Caxias do Sul, Palmeiras visited Grêmio and drew 2-2. With the result, Abel Ferreira's team reached 27 points in the league table, but was overtaken by Botafogo, which is now in second, with the same 27. The Rio rival wins by the number of victories.

Now, Flamengo is comfortably in the lead, as it has 30 points on the leaderboard. In the next round, Mengão will host Cuiabá, at 8pm, on Saturday (6). Vice-leader Botafogo plays on Sunday (7), at 8:30 pm, against Atlético-MG, at the Nilton Santos stadium. Finally, Palmeiras also plays on Sunday, but at 6:30 pm, hosting Bahia de Everton Ribeiro at Allianz Parque.

The team from Salvador beat Juventude in this round by 2-0 and reached fourth place in the table, with the same 27 points as Botafogo and Palmeiras. In other words, a direct confrontation in the next round between the Alviverde team and the 'Esquadrão de Aço'.

Even playing away from home, Palmeiras controlled the actions and had 60% of the ball possession compared to just 40% from Grêmio. However, this did not prevent the Grêmio players from finishing: there were 14 shots. On the other hand, the São Paulo team took risks 21 times. Grêmio opened the scoring with Pavón in the second minute and with a penalty, Cristaldo increased in the 70th minute.

However, in the 74th and 77th minutes, Palmeiras sought a draw with Flaco López and Estevão, respectively. After that, the match slowed down and ended in a 2-2 draw. Palmeiras' defeat would be better for Flamengo, but the draw already guarantees a smile on the red-black fans' faces.

It's become routine! When Flamengo plays away from home it is: a full stadium and a sold-out visitor section. So, the scenario was no different this Wednesday (03), when Mengão scored 4-2 against Atlético-MG, at Arena MRV. At the match, almost 40,000 people helped the stadium have the biggest audience of the Brasileirão 2024.

More precisely, 39,993 fans witnessed the Minas Gerais team's stumble to its Rio rival. It is worth mentioning that the biggest audience at Arena MRV for Brasileirão 2024, until then, occurred in a match between Atlético-MG and Atlético-GO. At the time, 39,767 people watched the teams draw 1-1.

It is worth noting that in at least four other games of the Brasileirão 2024, Flamengo guaranteed record income and/or attendance for the hosts of the games. In the first round, Mengão visited Atlético-GO at the Serra Dourada stadium, where the club from Goiás raised R$ 4.4 million, which determined 702% more than the collection in the average game.

Afterwards, Vasco moved the game with Flamengo to a larger stadium, and, instead of playing in São Januário, for 21 thousand people, they made an agreement to play at Maracanã, where they achieved record attendance at the Brasileirão. On that occasion, Mengão beat their rivals to a historic 6-1, under the eyes of 62,200 people.

Athletico-PR x Flamengo brought 38,641 people to the Ligga Arena, surpassing the audience for the Paranaense Championship final. Finally, the audience present at the Alfredo Jaconi Stadium for Juventude's game against Mengão was 12,675. Previously, the “record” of the Rio Grande do Sul team in Brasileirão 2024 had been against Corinthians, when 7,478 fans went to the venue.

This Monday (1), Augustín Rossi completes one year Flamengo, and it seems that the archer already understands what it means to be red-black. After oscillations at the beginning, the goalkeeper is in a great phase with the team. After the victory against Cruzeiro this Sunday (30), the Argentine explained the reason for the "turn of the key" in the season and projected Mais Querido's next challenge.

"Last year, I arrived at a moment where I hadn't been playing much at the beginning of the year. Today, I feel more confident about myself. So, feeling good is the most important thing. press conference on Sunday (30).

"We know we're doing a great job, Flamengo, especially. We have to follow this path, keep working. Now it's time to rest, we have a final on Wednesday and we will prepare ourselves in the best way possible", added Rossi, referring to the game with Atlético-MG, at Arena MRV.

In the match against Cruzeiro , Rossi completed 31 games in 2024. In total, there were 46 duels with Manto Sagrado, with 29 goals conceded (16 of which in the current season). Furthermore, the archer entered the history of the Rubro-Negro, remaining 1,134 minutes without conceding goals, the highest mark of all time at Mais Querido.

In this way, with Rossi at his disposal, Tite begins this Monday afternoon (1), preparing the squad for the match against Atlético-MG. The game will be next Wednesday (3), at 9:30 pm, at Arena MRV.