Zé Ricardo appeared at the Victorino Chermont Press Room at Ninho do Urubu to give a press conference during the final training session for the Fla-Flu match, open to journalists. Regarding the context of the derby, the coach commented on the red-and-black team's already qualified for the semifinal stage of the Campeonato Carioca, even with the Taça Rio still up for grabs.

"I believe we'll have a Fla-Flu match that's a little different in terms of the game's ingredients. We need to evaluate next season, to see what's positive and negative, because arriving at this stage of the competition in a qualified position ends up deflating things a bit," commented the coach, who emphasized, however, the seriousness with which the Mais Querido is approaching the match. "We're taking the game very seriously, because we see Sunday's game as another opportunity to test ourselves, preparing for the next stage of the Carioca and to face Atlético-PR on April 12th, as it's a decisive game for us. So it's with this objective that we're going to Cariacica," he added.

Regarding the players who will be available for the match, the club's manager commented on Réver, Mancuello, and Rômulo, who have all experienced physical discomfort in recent matches. Zé Ricardo assured that only those players who are 100% fit will play. "Réver worked on the field today. He wasn't with the group the entire time, just part of it, as he's undergoing a slightly different process so we don't have any issues when he returns to the field. Rômulo and Mancuello stayed in the gym regrouping. We'll have our final training session tomorrow to evaluate," said the club's manager. "If there's any kind of risk, I don't think it's worth risking the players in a match where we've already secured qualification," he added.

Back at the George Helal Training Center after serving their national teams in 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Paolo Guerrero, Miguel Trauco, and midfielder Diego participated normally in training. "We have all three players available for Sunday's game. We're counting on them for tomorrow's training session. After training, we'll make a final assessment, but all three trained and will be available in principle," concluded the coach.