A long line of homegrown goalkeepers, each year adding to their talents, is the strength of the red-and-black youth academy, which has a single name that represents the strength of its young talents: goalkeeping coach Nielsen Elias.

A longtime employee of the club's youth academy, Nielsen helped shape players like César and Thiago, who have already excelled in the professional team. Today, he prepares the next generations, including Gabriel Batista, Hugo Souza, and Yago. In an exclusive interview with FlaTV, the coach explained that the work is progressive and begins very early.

"It starts in the lower categories. In most cases at Flamengo, goalkeepers arrive at the U-13 level and do technical refinement work. At the U-17 level, they start working with me, who's from the U-20 level. It's been a natural and very good process. We see many goalkeepers serving in the professional category," he said.

Yago, the starting goalkeeper in the knockout stages of the São Paulo Cup, praised Nielsen's methodology and explained the importance of the work.

"He always chats and makes us feel very comfortable. He says, 'Be happy. Do what we train.' We've been working together for a year and a half, and he already tells me that goalkeepers need to be mentally sound. When we go out and play, we see that it produces results," he said.

Nielsen states that his main goals are the growth of his students and the growth of Flamengo. To achieve this, he considers mental work as important as physical and technical work.

"The work of serving the club is paramount to all of us. I don't compromise on intensity or concentration, no matter how long the training session is. Besides the technical and physical aspects, I think the mental aspect is very important. We play to avoid mistakes. Of course, each game has its own circumstances and difficulties. The goalkeeper does some individual work within a team sport. The coach is the first to know his athlete's problems. We know on a daily basis when they arrive happy, sad, worried... the goalkeeper already has a lot of pressure on him, and we have to know how to manage all of this," he stated.

Demonstrating his understanding of the importance of his work to the club, Nielsen sees himself rewarded once again. With strong performances from Hugo Souza and Yago, Flamengo is the four-time Copa São Paulo champion.