After Flamengo/Marinha's 3-0 victory in the last round of the first phase of the Brazilian Women's Championship, coach Ricardo Abrantes commented, exclusively to the official website, about the Mais Querido's participation in the competition, as well as the performance during the match in Gávea.

"It was an important victory. We fielded a team of girls who hadn't played or hadn't played much, so they came in with a lot of training and few matches. They felt the importance of showing the group their worth. It was the same result we had in our debut at Barradão; we could have done much better. Of course, there's the nerves, the pace, and some felt the pressure. The important thing is to finish with a win and gain morale for the second round. We have this goal of winning the championship for the second time. Unfortunately, we didn't get first place, but we slipped up when we could have. We played well even when we lost. We're going after this title; against Flamengo, we can't think of any other result," said Ricardo Abrantes.

Ricardo took the opportunity to assess the Meninas da Gávea's performance in the first phase. Flamengo finished third in Group 2. They played 14 games, won 8, drew 1, and lost 5, scoring 26 goals and conceding 14.

"This year, we have a very small squad, with only 25 players. We have players like Tânia Maranhão, who is 42, and some 20-year-olds with potential. Our idea was to qualify as early as possible so we could utilize these players more. Some teams are playing two competitions, so they can rotate their squad more, improving many aspects of their game. It wasn't what we expected, even though we're the defending champions, but last year we were on the outside, and I prefer it that way. They put a lot of pressure on us early on, we managed to win late in the match, and in others we could have won by a landslide, but we ended up losing. This fluctuation is very normal, especially with a reduced squad. We had to travel a lot and started training in early January. Ultimately, the goal was to qualify, and we achieved it," concluded the coach.

*Under supervision of Isabela Abirached