Internacional chief blames Flamengo’s spending for Libertadores exit | OneFootball

Alessandro Barcelos 'cried' after three consecutive defeats to Flamengo

Paying Thiago Maia would be good... The president of Internacional, Alessandro Barcelos, had the courage to talk about finances after being eliminated by Flamengo in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores da América. After the 2-0 defeat on Wednesday (20) at Beira-Rio, the director complained about the investment difference between the two clubs in the recent transfer windows.

— Some things would sound better if we had won the game, because they cannot serve as excuses. But the truth is that we need to delve deeper into this issue of Brazilian football and the differences that arise. An investment of R$ 277 million in this window (by Flamengo) against an investment of R$ 27 million (by Inter). It's 10 times more! In the last 4 windows, it's R$ 600 million in investment, said Alessandro Barcelos.

— This is new in Brazilian football, and we need to understand and work on it. It's bad to talk about it now because it doesn't justify our bad moment, but the fact is that it's an important issue, and we need to take care of it so that we can maintain competitiveness. The gap is getting so big that it ends up being decisive on the field and reflecting on the quality of the squads, added the president of Internacional.

WHY HASN'T THIAGO MAIA BEEN PAID YET?

Flamengo's spending in the windows could be even greater, after all, the club has not yet received payment for the sale of Thiago Maia to Internacional, made at the beginning of last year. At the time, the Gauchos were supposed to transfer 4 million euros (R$ 24.1 million at the current exchange rate). However, Mengão has yet to see the money and has filed a claim with the CBF's National Dispute Resolution Commission (CNRD) regarding the issue.

To make matters worse, even without paying for Thiago Maia, Internacional, led by Alessandro Barcelos, tried to sell the midfielder to Santos at the beginning of the year for a higher amount than the 4 million euros. In other words, they would profit without having paid Flamengo. Outraged, the Rubro-Negro blocked the transfer. It is worth mentioning that the Gauchos made recent million-dollar investments in Carbonero and Alan Rodríguez.

WHY ARE YOU CRYING, INTERNACIONAL?

Out of the Libertadores, Internacional now laments the merciless 6-1 imposed by Flamengo last week. After all, the Most Beloved won 1-0 and 2-0 in the Libertadores, in addition to a 3-1 victory in the Brasileirão. Therefore, Alessandro Barcelos will have plenty of time to pick up the pieces and count the money of the Gaucho team to, perhaps, finally pay for Thiago Maia.

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