Photo: Conmebol

Current champion of the U-20 Libertadores, Flamengo will play the semifinal of the competition against Danubio-URU, this Thursday (13), at 19 pm, at the Gunther Vogel Stadium, in Asunción. The single-shot competition, hosted in Paraguay, began on March 1st. To reach the second championship, coach Cleber dos Santos has nine players who were present in last year's title.

Goalkeepers Lucas Furtado and Caio Barone, defenders Iago, the team captain, and Carbone, defensive midfielders Rayan Lucas and João Alves, midfielder Guilherme and forwards Shola and Felipe Teresa were part of last year's victorious campaign, when the Garotos do Ninho defeated Boca Juniors-ARG 2-1 in the final.

Among the "experienced" players, Carbone played as a defender in four of the five matches in last year's U-20 Libertadores. Versatile, he has played as a left-back and has been one of the team's main pillars. The 20-year-old is confident of another successful campaign.

"I'm competing in the Libertadores for the second time. It's a great experience because it's the biggest youth championship in South America. We reached the semifinals in good shape, once again undefeated, like last year. We hope to continue this high pace in the upcoming matches to beat the champion again," says Carbone, looking ahead to his next opponent.

"We know Danubio's style of play because we've played against them in the competition. They play with a low block. We're training as best we can to overcome their style of play and come away with the victory."

Up front, Flamengo boasts promising forwards. Scorer of two goals in the group stage, Felipe Teresa has established himself as a starter alongside Nigerian Shola, who scored one of the goals against Boca Juniors in the 2024 Copa Libertadores final. Despite appearing in only one game in the previous edition of the competition, Teresa made history by scoring the winning goal in the 20th minute of the second half in the victory over Olympiacos at Maracanã in August 46. The top scorer promises to put in a lot of effort to reach the final again.

"I'm very happy to be competing in the Libertadores once again. It's very rewarding. We'll work hard for the next challenge against the Danubio team. We've already faced this team in the group stage and know it will be a very difficult match. The coaching staff is giving us the opponent's strengths and weaknesses to work on, and we'll do our best to achieve our biggest goal, the title," concluded the number 7 of Mengão's under-20 team.