Sidney Garambone Blog

"Never send off two Flamengo players in a single game. It's much worse for the opponent. It happened in the Fla-Flu match, and it had already happened with Corinthians. When the two red cards were raised, the Tricolor fans cheered and celebrated. Illusion. It would have been better to have played on equal terms. Not only because Brazilian teams rarely take advantage of a numerical advantage, nor do they practice it in training sessions, but mainly because of Flamengo. The inferiority on the field eroded the club's very history and mystique. As if the players were saying to themselves: "Now it's better! Now it's going to be a fight!" Newspaper editors were already preparing the tired headlines: A VICTORY WITH THE FLAMENGO EYE. At Maracanã, the epic result was already taking shape. Fluminense never showed the intelligence to destroy the 300 from Sparta. They played as if they were playing against 11 players. And perhaps it wasn't the Laranjeiras team's incompetence. But rather the merit of the crazy red-and-blacks, who began throwing themselves at the ball, at their opponents, to smother, to sweat, to justify the love of that equally delirious crowd, who chanted nonstop, cheering on their beloved warriors. Renato Gaúcho should have had two of his players provoke their own expulsion. Against Flamengo, on equal terms is always better. To avoid awakening the beast. And the story of the most popular club in the country.