Rogério Ceni justifies his substitutions in Supercopa triumph | OneFootball

On Sunday, Flamengo defeated Palmeiras on penalty kicks to become Supercopa do Brasil champions for the second year in a row.

However, by the time the match went to penalties, Everton Ribeiro, Bruno Henrique and Gerson had all already been removed from the match.

In his post-game interview, Rogério Ceni spoke about why the players were not available for the decisive moments.

“Michael really had many good individual plays and Vitinho was also very competitive as well.

“I did not want to remove Everton, Bruno Henrique, and Gerson, but they couldn’t take it anymore.

“Gabigol came to me asking not to take them off, but he said they couldn’t take it anymore. Michael came in and converted his penalty. João (Gomes), when we started to lose control, gave us more protection and also converted his penalty.

“The substitutions were much more to replace the team physically than anything else. We did not make defensive substitutions.

“Matheuzinho came in because Isla had a yellow card and it started to be a dangerous game. The other substitutions were natural, they are the options we have from the middle to the front.”

Flamengo will now prepare to face newly-relegated rivals Vasco on Wednesday and Portuguesa this weekend before they begin their 2021 Copa Libertadores journey next Tuesday against Vélez Sarsfield.