On Wednesday night (28), Flamengo lost to Botafogo 1-0 at Maracanã and ended its participation in the 2018 Carioca Championship. After the match, coach Paulo César Carpegiani gave a press conference and spoke about the negative result in the semi-final of the competition.

"It's not a lack of planning. Flamengo has shown that it does things within a perfectly adjustable and appropriate framework in the way it runs the club. Just because we were eliminated doesn't mean you can judge the club and its management. Even with all the investment, sometimes these things happen. It was the first loss for the starting lineup, and although it was a bit different, I thought we needed to have a more adjusted approach in the middle, but things didn't go as we would have liked. I didn't play by the rules. We were a rushed team, unable to put together what we needed. We lacked the individual play that could have defined the game. They managed to score, but we didn't have the ability to do so," he said.

"Initially, the idea was to have a more compact and well-rounded team for the match. The team that had been playing was imposing its rhythm and dominating, except for the games we rested with the Libertadores in mind. This was the first loss we'd suffered while playing full-strength. Was it important to make this change in a decisive game? I wanted to have a sharper play. Vinicius had been coming on very well, I wanted what he could offer. In a decisive game like this against an opponent we'd already beaten twice, we ended up losing this very tie. I'm responsible for what happened on the field. This team was producing, winning important duels. We were nervous, especially in the first half. We conceded the goal, and even though we had the ball in the second half, we didn't have a big play to finish. We won't give up," said Carpegiani.

"Justifying a defeat like this is painful, we didn't expect it. The fans won't understand, and they shouldn't either. It wasn't in our calendar to stay still for this long when we could have been deciding the championship. The competition is for when you don't win, because then comes the pressure. When you win, you've only done your duty. We need to get out of this quickly, we still have a lot to improve," he concluded.

Flamengo's next game will be on April 14th, in the Brazilian Championship debut, against Vitória away from home.