Cuca hails Flamengo star, backs him for national team | OneFootball

Atlético-MG's Cuca Praises Flamengo's Coach Filipe Luís

Flamengo was better in both games against Atlético-MG in the Copa do Brasil, but the Minas Gerais team advanced on penalties and remains in the competition. After the classification, the coach of the Belo Horizonte team, Cuca, praised the Flamengo coach Filipe Luís. In fact, the experienced coach projected a future in the Brazilian national team for the former left-back and stated that the red-black team is the "biggest promise".

"It's very difficult to play against Flamengo. They have a very well-defined game plan. Flamengo has a young coach who, without a doubt, is the biggest promise we have in Brazilian football", said Cuca, in a press conference at Arena MRV.

— "If people have patience with him, we know that his path will be the Brazilian national team, because he is a student, prepares himself, is increasingly wanting to improve and brings a lot of difficulty for us. We left here very happy to have beaten such a strong opponent" —, he added.

WHAT WAS MISSING FOR FLAMENGO TO ELIMINATE ATLÉTICO-MG?

In the Copa do Brasil round of 16 matches, Flamengo had more possession of the ball. At Maracanã, the Red-Black team reached 66% and shot 21 times (against 13 of the opponent). Already at Arena MRV, Filipe Luís' team had the ball for 53% and shot 16 times (18 of Atlético-MG).

However, due to an individual mistake in the first game, Atlético-MG won 1-0. In the return match, Flamengo returned the result with the same score, but lost on penalties. Thus, Filipe Luís experiences the second elimination in his professional coaching career, after falling to Bayern Munich (GER), in the Club World Cup.

WHAT ARE FLAMENGO'S NEXT GAMES?

After the Copa do Brasil, Flamengo aims for the Brasileirão and the Libertadores. On Saturday (09), Mengão faces Mirassol, from 6:30 pm (Brasília time), for the 19th round. Later, on Wednesday (13), the opponent will be Internacional, in the continental tournament. Both matches will be at Maracanã.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.