Coach Zé Ricardo analyzed the Brazilian Championship loss to Santos this Wednesday. In a post-match press conference at Pacaembu Stadium, the coach said the negative result doesn't change his outlook on the competition and that he's still taking things one game at a time. For Zé, Rodinei's sending-off had a significant impact on the final result. The coach also briefly commented on the referee's performance, which disallowed a goal by Rever when the match was tied.
Check out the main topics of the interview below.
Result
We leave frustrated. I believe Flamengo played a good game; we created chances and scored shots; a fair result wouldn't have been a loss. That's football. We have to lift our heads and see what we can improve. We can always improve. After the performance we played, losing really upsets us, and we have to bounce back quickly for Sunday's game.
Guerrero
I haven't spoken to him individually and I don't have any information yet.
Title
Before the match against Corinthians, we were avoiding talking about it, and I still think the same way. We have to approach the competition as we always have, taking it one game at a time. Today we were strong and doing what we planned for the match, even when we conceded the first goal. But football puts us in difficult situations, like the one we're in now. But we'll try to finish the first half of the season with a win against Vitória, and then turn our attention back to the World Cup and try, within the competitions, to fuel each other.
Rodinei's expulsion
The sending-off was very significant. After the sending-off, we had a few opportunities, even with nine players on the field, we scored a goal that was disallowed. I don't like to talk about refereeing, but I was under a lot of pressure, after what happened at Vila and the match at Itaquerão, I knew it would be tough for them too. But I think the first card was excessive, and we had three players on cards, and after the sending-off, Santos surged. They scored the equalizer, we even scored a goal that was disallowed, and then, under pressure, Santos ended up winning the match. Playing against a full Santos is already difficult, and being one man down made it even more difficult.