Atlético and Flamengo face each other this Sunday (20) for the Supercup, in Cuiabá. Flamengo’s lineup and way of playing are unknown. Will the team play with three defenders? Will Filipe Luís be the third defender on the left? Will Everton Ribeiro play on the right, left, midfield or wing? Bruno Henrique, if he plays, will he be a winger or a forward on the left? Will Gabigol and Pedro team up in attack?
It was never a problem for Pedro and Gabigol to play together. The difficulty is to climb the two plus Bruno Henrique, forming a trio of attackers. I imagine that Flamengo will most likely repeat the lineup of previous years.
Bruno Henrique, when he played for Santos, was just a good player on the sides, who would attack and come back to score. In Flamengo, he exploded, acting as a striker, from the left to the middle. Something similar can happen with Róger Guedes at Corinthians. He is neither a striker nor an open winger. He is a striker who plays from left to centre, close to the centre-forward, as he has successfully done at Atlético.
At Galo, a great defender, Júnior Alonso, left, and another of the same level, Godín, came on. The Uruguayan is more experienced and slower. There is a fear that if Atlético advances the mark, Godín will not have the speed to contain the opponent’s counterattacks. The game will tell. The new coach, “El Turco” Mohamed, must maintain the way of playing and almost the same lineup used by Cuca.
In Europe, in the midweek classic, for the Champions League, it looked like a big team (PSG) against a small one (Real Madrid). The Spanish team, as usual, scored further back, with nine players, but when they recovered the ball, they could not, which is rare, exchange passes to the other goal or counterattack at speed, with Vinicius Junior, on the left. . The team was cornered, due to errors in the exit of the ball from the defense and, mainly, because PSG, surprisingly, made an exceptional pressure marking and recovered the ball easily.
Vinicius Junior, once again, which has been frequent in recent games, including in the national team, had a discreet performance. Tite and Carlo Ancelotti are worried. They should have a chat.
Neymar came on in the middle of the second half and gave a beautiful back-heel pass to Mbappé, who dribbled two players and scored a beautiful goal. If it weren’t for the exceptional performance of goalkeeper Courtois, the finishing mistakes and the missed penalty by Messi, it could have been a rout.
I have noticed, for about a year, a clear technical downfall of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The two continue to act well, but far from the big moments. This decline, which can be progressive, occurs because of age and mental fatigue, a decrease in ambition and the obsession with trying, every day, to be exceptional, better than others. Evidently, the two will still score beautiful goals, but without the same regularity as before, until the glow and the flame go out. Nobody is eternal.
When Neymar was shining brightly at Barcelona, Xavi said that Messi was the best in the world, that Neymar was the heir to the throne and that Mbappé, who was starting to stand out, would be Neymar’s replacement. The Frenchman wants to jump the queue, or has already done so, unless Neymar gets bigger this year and is the great hero of the World Cup.
Mbappé, in addition to having a lot of skill, creativity, technique and lucidity, is extremely fast, an important quality in the greatest attackers in history.
I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in covering health news. I am also an author at News Bulletin 247. I am highly experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I am a hard worker and always deliver quality work. I am a reliable source of information and always provide accurate information.
