by Vitor Pereira justified Flamengo’s defeat by rival Fluminense (1-2) in the Guanabara Cup with the many absences and limitations in his team. The game ended with boos for the Portuguese manager, who at the end of the game said he understood the fans’ frustration.
“Given the circumstances, I want to remember that Pedro and Varela are players who were only here because it was a final. They were in no condition to help us. Pedro is coming off an injury, he only did one training session. Varela came because he had to, but he is injured. Injured are Thiago Maia, Erik Pulgar, David Luiz, Filipe Luiz and Victor Hugo. And although we had an excellent first half, we played aggressively. Let’s go. We scored two goals, one was disallowed. Clean goals in my opinion. We should have gone into the break leading 2-0. This was the result”, emphasized the Portuguese coach in the press conference that followed the game.
Flamengo went into half-time winning, with a goal from Everton Ceballinha, but allowed the opposition to come back in the second half. “In the second half, Fluminense continued with a normal game for them. They created the first goal and the dead ball of the second goal. It was a second half that was not played. Most of the game stopped. I don’t remember their game or my game. The ball should have rolled more and it didn’t,” he commented.
The truth is that the changes promoted by Vitor Pereira in the second half did not work. Flamengo fans were outraged by the manager’s decision to replace Gabigol and Arrascaeta in the second half, without mincing words. “Ass, ass, ass,” was heard.
Vitor Pereira is being called a ‘dumb’ by Flamengo fans after he took Arrascaeta and Gabigol straight away at Fla-Flu.
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March 9, 2023
“Our choices were in the sense of, firstly, Mateusão up front because he is a striker who attacks from the back. Fluminense had more of the ball, in our midfield. Mateusão attacked the area, he is aggressive, he could steal a ball. It seemed like the right choice. With Everton and Vidal we could control the ball more. Leo’s departure was forced,” he justified.
Flamengo went into half-time to a standing ovation, but at the end of the game Vitor Pereira was booed again. “I understand the crowd. Why, like me, they get disappointed because after so much work, after the players believe and do what they have to and we lose the final, it’s hard to explain. A stationary, bouncing ball. Hard to explain. We have a semi-final, we are convinced that we will arrive strong to compete in Rio”, he also emphasized.
