Ex-Brazil star: Pandemic boosted Flamengo’s strength | OneFootball

Flamengo invested over R$ 250 million in the current transfer window to improve the squad

The Flamengo faces the Internacional this Wednesday (13), at Maracanã, in the first game of the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores. Thus, to justify the strength of the red-black squad, former striker Grafite mentioned the pandemic, which changed the substitution rule from three to five.

— The pandemic has greatly changed the concept of the game. In the past, you could only change with three substitutions, you organized here, fixed there. Now, with five substitutions, it is necessary to have a very robust bench to maintain the standard. Flamengo, in addition to maintaining the standard, still raises it —, he began.

"There are certain games where Luiz Araújo is not doing well, but Everton Cebolinha comes in. Gonzalo Plata is not doing well? Bruno Henrique comes in and improves. In other words, it's a lot of quality", concluded the former player of the Brazilian National Team, during a program on SporTV, this Wednesday (13).

WHAT IS THE CONTEXT?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in early 2020, football had a rule: only three substitutions were allowed. However, to protect the health of the players due to the tight schedule and game conditions, this measure was later adopted in 2022, permanently by various competitions.

AND FLAMENGO?

Mentioned by Grafite, Flamengo has a vast and experienced squad. This is because, the red-black team spent over R$ 250 million on new players in the current transfer window. With this, it became the team that invested the most in athletes during this period.

WHEN DOES FLAMENGO PLAY?

Thus, Flamengo will have full strength to face Internacional this Wednesday (13), at 9:30 pm (Brasília time), at Maracanã, for the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores. Thus, the Coluna do Fla brings all the information about the confrontation.

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