Jorge Sampaoli praises the Maracanã lawn and talks about strengthening Flamengo

Flamengo beat Athletico-PR by 2 to 1, on the night of this Wednesday (5), and guaranteed a place in the semifinal of the Copa do Brasil. Coach Jorge Sampaoli praised the team at Maracanã a lot, but said that in the first half, they could have used and transformed possession of the ball into advantages, “We played against a very physical, very strong team, which made it difficult for us in the first halfbut the victory was good, the team had a lot of control.” stated.

RUBRO-BLACK VICTORY! SAMPAOLI SAYS THE MARACANÃ MUST HAVE THE BEST LAWN IN THE WORLD! TECHNICIAN PRAISES LUIZ ARAÚJO AND TALKS ABOUT ALLAN! BH ESSENTIAL IN THE SECOND TIME!

CHECK OUT THE SAMPAOLI COLLECTIVE AFTER FLAMENGO’S VICTORY AGAINST ATHLETICO-PR.

@brunodoubs pic.twitter.com/PCwCuHK8NI

— Paparazzo Rubro-Negro (@PaparazzoRN) July 6, 2023

In the post game interview, the coach also commented on the state of the Maracanã lawn. Last Saturday (1), the conditions of the field were the subject of discussion between vice president of football Marcos Braz and the striker Gabigol, who ended up getting injured because of holes in the lawn and, as a result, being left out of last Wednesday’s match. “Honestly, I know that there are many fields in the world that are not synthetic, that also have many games and have a better pitch than this one. I always say that football deserves to be played on a pitch where you can play well. It’s difficult, but I believe that, nowadays, Maracanã had to have the model of Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​because the stadium deserves It is because it is a stadium that has a very long history and it has to be respected.” stated.

In the interview, Sampaoli also took a position when asked about the defensive midfielder, Allan, who was announced by Flamengo last Sunday (2): “He arrived a little while ago, coming from a very long stop due to injury. So he has been training in different shifts so that we can count on him”.

_{Flamengo for the Brazilian Cup. (Photo: Reproduction/Gilvan de Souza/CRF/Instagram/@flamengo)}

The second leg of the Copa do Brasil will take place next Wednesday (12), at 21:00 (Brasília time), at the Arena da Baixada. But first, while they wait until Allan is ready to play, Flamengo is preparing to play for the Brasileirão, on Saturday, at 9 pm, against Palmeiras, at Allianz Parque.

Featured photo: Jorge Sampaoli from Flamengo. Playback/Marcelo Cortes/CRF/Instagram/@flamengo.