Thursday's training session (26) marked the last activity of the red-black squad in Rio before traveling to Natal-RN, where they will face the Boavista team in their official debut in 2017, in a match valid for the Campeonato Carioca. After the activities, Zé Ricardo spoke to journalists in the Victorino Chermont Press Room, at Ninho do Urubu, and commented on some details of the match.

Rômulo made his debut for Mais Querido in a training match held last Wednesday (25) at CT George Helal. Zé Ricardo is counting on the midfielder to face Boavista. "He's an athlete who already showed up in good physical condition. We decided not to take him to Goiânia because there were still stages to complete in the preparation. Yesterday we managed to get him to play the expected 25 minutes. As he's heavy from the preparation, he felt a little bit (in the game). We'll evaluate him further in tomorrow's training session in Natal and define his lineup," said the coach, who guaranteed the intention of using the athlete in the match. "Without a doubt, the idea is to use him in the match," he added.

Then the focus turned to the opponent. Zé analyzed the green and white team, discussing the experience of the team members, who have played for major Brazilian clubs, and the coaching staff, which includes some of Brazil's biggest names, starting with coach Joel Santana.

"Aside from the big four, I consider Boavista the team with the most clout today because of the names they have. In addition to Joel Santana, who is a super winner as coach, they have an extremely experienced coaching staff, with Mello as their physical trainer, and athletes who have played for several clubs," he commented. Zé then spoke about the red-and-black team's preparation for the debut. "We gathered information from the two friendlies they played last week. They beat Friburguense 2-0 and also Juventus, from Rio's Série C, XNUMX-XNUMX. They're a team we know we'll need to play a lot of football to beat," he analyzed.