“I just need to end up in prison because of Flamengo” - Eduardo Paes jokes about auction

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.

Flamengo is waiting for good news to resolve the legal imbroglio involving the possession of the Gasologista land, acquired at auction at the end of July. Last Friday, Caixa Econômica Federal, former administrator of the fund that owns the land, and the City of Rio de Janeiro formalized a request for a 90-day suspension of legal proceedings to continue negotiations at the Public Administration Mediation and Conciliation Chamber Federal.

The information was published by the newspaper O Globo. This suspension is part of an agreement that also involves Flamengo, with the aim of ending the legal dispute and allowing the club to take possession of the land. Flamengo has already paid R$138 million for the 87,000 square meters of Gasometer, in addition to an additional amount of R$7.8 million, following a judicial review.

The club believes it should not pay more for the land. An independent audit report from the fund, managed by Caixa, indicated a price of R$240.5 million for the land — a value close to what Flamengo had initially offered. However, as the negotiations did not progress, the City Council opted to expropriate the land, claiming "public utility and interest", which generated a series of legal actions, including questioning the action of Mayor Eduardo Paes.

Now, there is the possibility that the expropriation will be canceled, through the transfer of the amount already paid by Flamengo, around R$146 million, to the City Hall. However, the agreement still depends on the definition of the final value, which has always been a point of divergence between Flamengo and Caixa.

Flamengo does not yet have official possession of the land, which prevents the club from continue studies and preliminary actions for the construction of the new stadium, such as laying the foundation stone. The 8th Public Finance Court of the District of the Capital approved the sale, but transferred jurisdiction to the Federal Court, where Caixa and the Union contest the legality of the auction.