Flamengo fans prepare posters with protest messages against Tite and the board in the game against Athletico-PR

Flamengo was eliminated from the Libertadores last Thursday (26), when they only had a goalless draw with Peñarol, but lost on aggregate. In this way, Mais Querido joined Palmeiras and broke a historic sequence. This is because, for the first time since 2017, none of the clubs are in the semi-finals of the competition.

With the draw with Peñarol, Mais Querido was eliminated in the quarter-finals, after losing 1 to 0 in the first match. On the other hand, Palmeiras fell to Botafogo in the round of 16, 4-3 on aggregate.

In this seven-year period, Rubro-Negro was a triple finalist in the Libertadores, winning two titles (2019 and 2022). In the current edition, Mais Querido reached the quarterfinals and fell to the round of 16 in three others. Palmeiras reached two decisions and won both (2020 and 2021). Furthermore, the alviverde team stopped in the semi-finals three times.

Eliminated from the Libertadores, Flamengo will only have two competitions to focus on: Copa of Brazil and Brasileirão. In the national knockout round, Rubro-Negro faces Corinthians in the semi-final. In the points competition, Flamengo needs to win again to get out of fourth place.

Flamengo and Athletico-PR meet face this Sunday (29), at 8pm, at Maracanã. The clash will be valid for the 28th round of the Brasileirão and around 20 thousand tickets have already been sold. The match will be broadcast live on Premiere.

This Sunday night (29), at 8pm (Brasília time), Flamengo hosts Athletico-PR at Maracanã for the 28th round of the Brasileirão. A victory is crucial for Rubro-Negro to close the gap on Fortaleza, third place with 52 points, while Flamengo has 45.

Athletico-PR is not going through the best of phases. In the last 10 matches, Furacão only won three matches, with two draws and five defeats, which resulted in the dismissal of coach Martín Variani. Argentine Lucho González took over the role. Despite the complicated sequence, the team from the South of Brazil has players who can make a difference. Check out 5 athletes who can unbalance:

Canobbio: Athletico-PR's starter and top scorer in the Brasileirão, with four goals. Furthermore, he is the player with the greatest participation in the team's goals in the tournament, adding five decisive actions.

Mastriani: the center forward also scored four goals in the championship, but has not yet registered any assists.

Esquivel: the Argentine full-back leads Athletico-PR in assists in the Brasileirão, with three passes for a goal, the same number as Fernandinho, who should not face Flamengo.

Cuello: the Argentine striker also contributed with three assists, tied with Esquivel and Fernandinho.

Mycael: the goalkeeper is going through a great phase and is the absolute owner. He has the best performance average among Athletico players in the Brasileirão, with a rating of 7.43 on the SofaScore app.

In the first round match, Athletico-PR and Flamengo drew 1-1. The game took place on June 16, at Arena da Baixada. Defender Thiago Heleno scored a penalty for the home team, and young Everton Araújo equalized for Flamengo with the last play of the match, valid for the 9th round of the Brasileirão.

Flamengoand Athletico -PR face each other this Sunday (29), at 8pm (Brasília time), at Maracanã, for the 28th round of the Brazilian Championship. The match will be broadcast on Premiere (pay-per-view and streaming) throughout Brazil.

Flamengo has not been able to present good football for some time and doubts about Tite's work have already begun to emerge. For journalist and commentator Gian Oddi, the criticism took a long time to appear, and there is an "unusual generosity" towards the commander.

For the commentator, if it were another coach in Tite's place, without making a star cast surrender, the position of coach would already be in danger and even vacant a long time ago. The journalist still uses Vanderlei Luxemburgo as a comparison to describe the situation.

“We are in the ninth month of this year, Tite started his work last year, and I keep imagining if Vanderlei Luxemburgo was the coach of Flamengo, how much he would get beaten. So I think there is a generosity with Tite that is absolutely unusual”, analyzed Gian Oddi.

Tite will complete one year leading Flamengo, but he continues to experience moments of uncertainty. Even though Rubro-Negro is alive in the three competitions it competes in, the coach is unable to extract better football from the squad, and even with the absences, Gian Oddi says that the coach has to show urgent service.

“ Enough, I'm not saying that Tite should be fired. But you need to look at Flamengo's squad, and I know that the discount has to exist, just look at who is outside Flamengo's team at the moment. But he has a lot of allowance to work with, and of course, he had a lot of problems, but Flamengo goes there and signs the full-back who played with the Juventus shirt for the last ten years. So, we're talking about guys at a very high level”, commented Oddi following criticism from the fans about the football presented.

Since Tite arrived at Mais Querido, in October 2023, he led Rubro-Negro in 67 games, with 40 wins, 12 draws and 15 defeats. In total, 106 goals were scored and 48 conceded.