In the early hours of Thursday (25), Zé Ricardo spoke to journalists after a 4-2 defeat to Figueirense, in the Mais Querido's debut match in the Copa Sul-Americana. Among the topics covered, the red-black commander spoke about the team's collective performance in that night's match, which he did not consider satisfactory, and about the team's spirits for the match against Chapecoense on Sunday (28), for the Brazilian Championship.

We didn't play well collectively. We weren't able to organize our game across the board, not just defensively. But the assessment is that we have the ability to turn this score around in the return leg in Cariacica.

The idea is to work game by game. We operated this way in the Brazilian Championship and will also do so in the Copa Sudamericana. Flamengo's goal, in assembling a large squad, was to compete in all competitions while maintaining good physical and technical condition. We made some changes for today's game. We will plan differently for Sunday's match and the following ones.

We couldn't recover after a very strong start from our opponent. Figueirense played a consistent and motivated game. Practically everything they tried worked. We know we have every chance to play well and turn this result around in Cariacica.

We have an experienced group. We talked in the locker room, and I know we'll be in a different mood for the match against Chapecoense. We know they're very strong playing in Chapecó, and we'll need to be very focused to get a good result.

We entered this match a little unfocused. We conceded three goals in a very short space of time, which ended up hindering the performance of the team that was on the field. However, I believe our second goal gives us some encouragement, as a margin of more than two goals would be more difficult to overcome in the return leg.