This Sunday, Flamengo travels to São Paulo to face Corinthians, the undefeated leader of the competition, at Itaquerão, with the aim of reducing the gap to the São Paulo team in the table, currently at 12 points, and setting the Brasileirão on fire. 

To accomplish this mission, coach Zé Ricardo will welcome goalkeeper Diego Alves to the club's debut. Besides Diego's new addition, the team is riding high after qualifying for the Copa do Brasil semifinals, a hard-fought victory last Wednesday against Santos. Now, the focus is back on the Brazilian Championship. In their last match of the competition, the "Mais Querido" defeated Coritiba 2-1 at Ilha do Urubu. 

Flamengo is fifth in the table with 28 points. Corinthians leads with 40. 

Captain Rever spoke about this Sunday's match and made it clear that only one result matters.

"We know the difficulties of the game against the leader, but we know our quality, our potential, and what we want in the competition. We're going into Corinthians with all due respect, but we know what result we want. We're capable of playing a great game to get the win and do our best throughout the match so we can have a very good run in the competition."

Memory 

Flamengo and Corinthians have had memorable duels in history. In the 2009 campaign for the Hexa title, the teams met in Campinas in the penultimate round of the competition. The São Paulo team had no further objectives that year, while Flamengo depended on a victory to take the lead in the final round. They were watching the game, listening to the radio, because a draw was essential. São Paulo faced Goiás. Everything went well. With goals from Zé Roberto and Leo Moura, Flamengo defeated Corinthians 2-0, while the São Paulo team was defeated by Goiás, paving the way for the Hexa title that would come a week later. 

This Sunday's game also recalls the match played on September 01, 1999. On that Wednesday night, the São Paulo team was leading, undefeated, and enjoying a spectacular run in the Brazilian Championship, and they were celebrating their anniversary on that date. Pacaembu Stadium was the venue for the match, which started off strong for them. Luizão, just five minutes into the first half, opened the scoring. But Flamengo had Romário on an inspired night. "Baixinho" scored two goals in the first half to turn the tables on Flamengo. Then, "Mais Querido" held off Corinthians and ruined their anniversary, ending their unbeaten streak at the same time. 

Flamengo played 48 matches in the 2017 season (27v / 14d / 7d), scored 89 goals and conceded 41. Guerrero, with 19 goals, is the team's top scorer this year, followed by Diego, with 10, Leandro Damião (9) and Everton (8).

With 89 goals scored, Flamengo is the team that scored the most among all participants in the Brazilian Championship Series A in the 2017 season.

Flamengo has not beaten Corinthians in São Paulo since June 04, 2006, when Peralta and Obina scored the goals in a 2-0 victory at Morumbi. 

Flamengo fans will be able to purchase tickets only at the Itaquerão visitors' ticket office, near Gate G, starting at 12:30 p.m. this Sunday, the day of the game. A total of 2.350 tickets will be available, corresponding to 5% of the stadium's maximum capacity. Tickets cost R$100,00 (R$50,00) and must be purchased in cash; no other forms of payment will be accepted. 

Flamengo fans will be able to watch the match on TV Globo across the country, except for the state of Pernambuco, and on Premiere FC. Fan club members can enjoy more Flamengo watching the game on TV: discounts on Sky packages and even on beer to watch the match! Fan club members can enjoy more Flamengo on game day: discounts and priority access on tickets to watch at the stadium and on pay-per-view, and beer to watch on TV! Click and feel the pride of being a fan club member.

You can also follow the real-time action on Flamengo's official social media channels using the hashtag #CORxFLA. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, like our page on Facebook and follow us on Snapchat (cr_flamengo). FlaTV also brings exclusive behind-the-scenes and match footage to the Red-Black Nation. Sign up with one click, it's free!