The biggest winner in the history of the Otávio Pinto Guimarães Tournament (OPG) with nine titles, Flamengo's Under-20 team came closer to its tenth title in the competition this Saturday morning (17). In the FlaxFlu match valid for the first leg of the final, Flamengo won 1-0 at the Estádio das Laranjeiras, with a goal by Yuri after a precise cross from Aderlan, who played improvised at right-back. In addition to the great collective spirit of fighting for every ball combined with the technical quality of the team, the Mais Querido also had another great performance from goalkeeper Yago Darub this season to hold the score and open an advantage in the grand final of the OPG Tournament. In the second and decisive game, next Saturday (24), at 10 am, at Gávea, Flamengo will play for a draw to take another victory lap in 2018. 

Flamengo started by applying pressure. In the very first minute, Pablo crossed the ball and Higor almost scored an own goal. A minute later, from a corner kick, Nathan anticipated the marking and headed the ball just wide of the left post of goalkeeper Heitor. At 11 minutes, Bill stole the ball in midfield. He passed to Luiz Henrique, who crossed into the area. After a deflection from the defense, the ball almost fell to Lucas Silva, who was closing in on the right side of the Flamengo attack. The "Mais Querido" (Most Beloved) team was the better side on the field.

The first Tricolor shot on goal came in the 15th minute, from a free kick by Leandro. Yago Darub made his first appearance in the match, making a great save and deflecting the ball for a corner. The game then became lukewarm. The next scoring opportunity only came in the 36th minute, and it was for Flamengo. Bill delivered a beautiful pass behind the defense to Vitor Gabriel, who won the race and shot across goal first-time, just wide of Heitor's goal. In the following play, Bill exchanged passes with Luiz Henrique and shot from the edge of the area. After deflecting off a defender, the ball fell weakly into the hands of the Tricolor goalkeeper.

In the 41st minute, Flamengo's defense made a mistake in their build-up play, and the referee awarded a penalty to Fluminense. Macula took a very poor penalty, shooting wide to the right of Yago, who was on the ball, and watched it go far from his goal. The teams went to the locker room with the score at 0-0.

The ball rolled for the second half and the Flamengo youth team almost opened the scoring in the opening seconds. Pablo escaped down the left wing at speed and crossed to Luiz Henrique, who would have been one-on-one with the goalkeeper. But the defense arrived at the exact moment and made the clearance. From the resulting corner, Nathan rose alone, but his header went over the goal. Fluminense came close to scoring in the ninth minute with Dudu, but Yago Darub made a great save. 

In the 18th minute, Bill crossed the ball to Yuri, who had come on for Lucas Silva. His header went just over the crossbar. Finally, in the 22nd minute, Flamengo managed to translate their superiority into a goal. Aderlan delivered a beautiful cross to Yuri's head, who this time didn't miss and put the ball in the top corner, opening the scoring for the Flamengo youth team.

Fluminense threatened in the 35th minute with a header from Samuel. Once again, goalkeeper Yago Darub flew to make the save and maintain Flamengo's lead. In the 40th minute, Macula unleashed a powerful shot, and Yago was there to save Flamengo for the last time in the game. With the away victory, the Flamengo youth team will only need a draw next week at Gávea to secure their tenth OPG title and further solidify their position as the most successful club in the competition's history.

Flamengo: Yago Darub, Aderlan, Nathan, Patrick, Pablo (Ramon); Henrique, Matheus Alves, Luiz Henrique (Vitor Ricardo); Bill, Lucas Silva (Yuri) and Vitor Gabriel (Wendel). Coach: Maurício Souza.