Botafogo coach talks about plans for the classic against Flamengo: "We have to win"

In the relationship between Gabigol and coach Tite at Flamengo, only the field is capable of speaking. Between the striker and coach, there is practically no dialogue, and the cold and silent war dictates that only one of them should remain at the club for the season in 2025.

No atmosphere with the coaching staff and also with the squad , Gabriel Barbosa has been convinced to change and airs, but even the clubs that expressed interest in the first half of the year backed away. With a contract at Flamengo until the end of December, Gabigol had offers from Palmeiras, Corinthians and Santos, was mentioned at Grêmio, but did not want to sign a pre-contract with any team.

The expectation was to try to turn things around on top in the second half, otherwise he would end his time at Flamengo like the idol he became, without any fuss.

Tite's arrival last year changed the entire perspective of the striker, who was already in a bad phase previously, and lost his place once and for all to Pedro with the presence of the new coach. With the center forward's recent injury, Tite kept Gabigol at the end of the line, under the argument that Carlinhos and Bruno Henrique perform better in the scheme with a reference man .

Without understanding the criteria, Gabi maintains her dedication to the basic level of professionalism in training, as it is not part of the coach's or the club's plans for a possible renewal. With the chances of a comeback practically buried, the two possible paths are to wait for the election in Flamengo to find out if Tite will remain with the next president; or wait for the end of the contract to freely listen to proposals again. Palmeiras and Santos have not yet given up on the idea, and Bahia appears as an option, as it has good investment capacity.

Retired from the field since 2017, former midfielder Zé Roberto, who had a spell at Flamengoin the 90s, it is looking to buy 90% of SAF from São Bento, a club in São Paulo. According to GE, a meeting scheduled for this Wednesday night (18) could decree the sale of the Sorocaba team to the company Flash Forward, which belongs to the former player.

Zé Roberto is the main name of the company. However, the group also has partners such as former athlete Fransérgio and businessman Tiago Ribeiro (former CEO of Estoril). In addition to Flamengo, Zé played in Brazilian football with the shirts of Palmeiras, Santos and Grêmio. In Europe, the former athlete defended giants such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

The offer is R$130 million, which would be paid in installments. This amount would be invested on a specific basis in the football team and the club’s structure. The project is to take São Bento to the elite of São Paulo football and Brazilian Series B in up to six seasons.

Revelation from Portuguesa-SP, Zé Roberto stood out at Lusa and caught the attention of Real Madrid in 1997. However, the player had difficulty fitting into the Spanish club and was loaned to Flamengo in 1998.

At Flamengo, Zé Roberto was a starter in the Campeonato Carioca competition, entered the field 23 times and aroused the interest of Bayer Leverkusen , leaving Gávea in the same season. As an athlete, the former midfielder also played in the 2006 World Cup for the Brazilian team.

Botafogo beat Flamengo 4-1 on Sunday night (18). After the victory, coach Artur Jorge adopted a completely different tone from Tite when talking about the Brazilian football calendar. The coach treated the lack of space between games as a problem of the past and stated that it is part of the committee's job to prepare the athletes.

“It has worried me since April, when I arrived. If I'm not mistaken, I only made two games with a full week of work. This has been the sequence. That's no longer a topic for me. Would I like to have more time to work? Of course. Today we have everyone available, we have two more days to compete again in a highly demanding game. But that's not an excuse or an advantage, I've already had two, four days. I already lost, I already won. That's what we have, we have to prepare the players for that. It's part of our work”, said Artur Jorge.

Like Flamengo, Botafogo also played six matches in the last 20 days. The teams played two Copa do Brasil games, one round of the Libertadores and played three rounds of the Brasileirão between July 30th and August 18th.

Flamengo is in a difficult situation in the Brasileirão. This is because, in the last three games, Rubro-Negro won only one point, two defeats and one draw.

With the defeat to Botafogo, Flamengo fell to fourth place, with 41 points, falling behind Palmeiras, who have the same score, but the São Paulo team has an advantage due to the goal difference.

In this way, seeking to rebuild the team, Tite begins preparing his players this Monday (19) for the clash against Bolívar. Mais Querido returns to the field on Thursday (22), at 9:30 pm, in La Paz, for the Libertadores.