historic night for Marcelo Vieira. The former winger of Real Madrid was decisive in the final of Carioca Championship played at the Maracaná between Fluminense and Flamengo and ended in a thrashing for Flu to win the title.
Marcelo scored for the first time since returning to Fluminense, the club where he formed and left 17 years ago. Cano wasted a penalty, but Alexsander scored a double and completed the exhibition of the club from the neighborhood of Laranjeiras, which lost the first leg 2-0, also at the stadium north of Rio de Janeiro.
Flamengo’s full-back Ayrton Lucas scored when the game was set.
fluminensewho also won the 2022 edition, added 33 Rio de Janeiro state regional tournament titlesfour less than his rival, whose coach, the Portuguese Vitor Pereira, has almost no support to continue in office.
Flamengo, the reigning Copa Libertadores champions, are without Chileans Arturo Vidal and Erick Pulgar, nor Uruguayan Giorgian de Arrascaeta, who are both injured.
Flamengo fielded goalkeeper Santos, center-back David Luiz, Uruguayan winger Guillermo Varela, midfielders Gerson and Thiago Maia and national team forwards Pedro, Gabriel Barbosa ‘Gabigol’ and Everton.
Winger Filipe Luís and World Cup player Everton Ribeiro also jumped from the reserve bench, but they were unable to straighten the course of the red and black team.
In a rush to overcome a 2-0 deficit, coach Fernando Diniz’s team went for victory from the first whistle and in the 26th minute, after escaping Everton and Gerson, Marcelo scored the first goal of the match.
Five minutes later and when Flamengo did not react, a counterattack by Paulo Henrique Ganso, with a pinpoint assist of 10, left Cano facing Santos to widen the lead to 2-0 in the 31st minute.
Due to an even series, Fluminense’s courage rose at half-time and Flamengo was devastated.
In the second half, Flamengo wanted to impose conditions, but a handball by Fabrício Bruno in the area was allowed as a penalty.
In the 55th minute, after Santos saved Cano’s penalty, the rebound fell back to the Argentine to make it 3-0 and thus score his 18th goal of the season, 16 of them in the Carioca Championship.
Flamengo tried to counter, but in the 64th minute a shot from winger Guga was saved by Santos and, again on a rebound, Alexsander scored the fourth.
In stoppage time, a projection by Matheus França released Ayrton Lucas, who had no problem beating goalkeeper Fábio and sealed the final 4-1.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
