On Thursday night (19), Flamengo hosted Peñarol at Maracanã for the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores da América and came out with an unfavorable result. In front of more than 64 thousand fans, the team led by Tite had several opportunities, but failed to score.

The Uruguayan team took advantage of one of the few chances and, with a goal from Cabrera, secured a 1-0 victory. Now, Mengão will need to reverse the deficit in the second leg, scheduled for next Thursday- fair (26), in Montevideo.

This Thursday's defeat puts the Rio team in a delicate situation. To guarantee qualification to the semi-finals, Mais Querido will need to win by two goals at the Campeón del Siglo Stadium. A simple victory will take the decision to penalties, while any other score guarantees Peñarol's place. The result was even more painful for the club, as Flamengo has not lost at Maracanã in Libertadores competitions since 2019, also to Peñarol.

The return game is full of expectations, mainly due to the historic rivalry between the two teams in the South American competition. The winner of this duel will face, in the semifinals, the winner of the clash between Botafogo and São Paulo. On the other side of the bracket, there are River Plate (Argentina), Colo-Colo (Chile), Fluminense and Atlético-MG, which makes the path to the final even more competitive.

FLAMENGO AND PEÑAROL RETURN TO THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Before the decisive match for the Libertadores, both teams have commitments for their national leagues. CRF travels to Porto Alegre to face Grêmio, next Sunday (22), at 6:30 pm, for the Brazilian Championship. Peñarol faces Cerro, also on Sunday, at 7pm, away from home, in the Clausura of the Uruguayan Championship.

Flamengo entered the field on Thursday night. With a packed Maracanã, Tite's men played the first match of the Libertadores quarter-finals against Peñarol (URU). The objective was to play a good game and take an advantage for the return game, next week. In this sense, the Rio team ended up disappointing the more than 60 thousand paying guests at the stadium and lost 1-0, in one of the team's worst matches of the year.

Summary

Peñarol It started well and Peñarol soon showed that it would play on the red and black error. Therefore, the Uruguayans opened the scoring after 12 minutes, with Cabrera, in a counterattack. Soon after, Flamengo responded with Plata's header hitting the post. But the red and black team had difficulty creating chances. In the final stretch of the first half, Flamengo grew and had great opportunities to draw. Bruno Henrique, alone, headed over goalkeeper Aguerre, who also made a great save from Arrascaeta's shot.

In the second half, Flamengo came back even better, but came up against the strong Uruguayan marking and the lack of creativity to reach the opponent's goal. Tite moved the sides, which gave Flamengo more speed, however, it had little effect due to a terrible night from Arrascaeta and De la Cruz. As a result, the result did not change and now Flamengo needs to reverse the situation away from home next week.

What now?

With the result, Flamengo will need to win by at least two goals to guarantee one of the places in the Libertadores semi-finals. The match takes place in Uruguay, next Thursday. However, Fla needs to turn the key, because there is a Brazilian Championship game to play on the weekend. Tite's men will face Grêmio, away from home, next Sunday, at 6:30 pm;

In Flamengo's last game, this Wednesday (05), Luiz Araújo made his debut. The new striker participated in his first game with the sacred mantle in a match against Athlético-PR for the quarterfinals of the Copa do Brasil. The young man's performance was satisfactory, having even almost made an assist.

Luiz Araújo came on in the 33rd minute of the second half, replacing Everton Ribeiro to give more volume to the game on the right side of the attack. The match was practically decided with Flamengo leading with an advantage of two goals to 1. That didn't stop the rookie from trying to put his mark on the game when Athlético made mistakes and gave spaces.

He made a deep pass to Bruno Henrique that almost ended up in an assist. The winger managed to come face to face with Bento after gaining speed under the defense. Bruno Henrique's touch on the right side of the goal, close to the crossbar, but the move impressed.

Luiz's presence was also important for having increased the team's "gas", especially in disputes in the midfield range. “Sampaoli has already assisted me a lot. He asked me to stay wide open and asked Wesley to wait for me a little further back so I could use the 1 on 1”, explained Araújo, pointing out how the right-back ended up being more attached to the defense. The number 22 touched the ball seven times, hit the four attempted passes and had a loss of ball possession.

Luiz Araújo showed part of the characteristics described by himself in the presentation, on Monday (03) . And the fans did not disappoint their expectations: “In the first part, I stayed there watching a little bit of the Nation, watching the party they were having. Very excited to be able to enter. When Sampaoli called me, it was a huge emotion. Very happy to have debuted and even happier for the victory".

Flamengo's next match is against Palmeiras, Saturday (8), at 9 pm, for the Brasileirão. This classic Luiz Araújo will be more used to it, but recognizes that they will have to make an effort: "Palmeiras is a great club, it is a very difficult game. I've already faced with São Paulo. We have to be very well prepared. We shouldn't change our style, we work very hard and we're going to do our job, attacking and having possession of the ball"

It was already speculated that Luiz Araújo could debut in this same match. was presented at a press conference, where he revealed his eagerness to collaborate with Jorge Sampaoli's team. Football). And, on that same day (04) he was also training with the team at the CT (Training Center) Ninho do Urubu.

He is also, by all indications, in better physical condition than the other two players (Allan and Rossi) who joined the club in this second half of the season. The midfielder and the goalkeeper suffered injuries last semester and have not played for months. /p>