Five reasons to believe that Fluminense can have a good campaign in the Brazilian and Libertadores

Marcelo’s landing in Rio de Janeiro yesterday took around 500 Fluminense fans to Galeão Airport. This Friday, at 7:30 pm, it will be officially presented at Maracanã — almost 30,000 tickets have already been sold for the event. Main reinforcement of the season, the left-back is the symbol of hope for a year that is designed with the possibility of higher flights.

Conquering the Guanabara Cup was just the first objective of the tricolor, which has Libertadores, Brasileiro and Copa do Brasil as goals. Marcelo is a differential, but there are other issues that help to create a climate of trust among the fans.

The club understands that it has built a solid base of talented and dedicated players in recent years. The next step is to find someone who is above average and unbalanced. An example cited recurrently in the corridors of Laranjeiras was Arrascaeta, from Flamengo. At Fluminense, Ganso is seen that way. Now Marcelo will keep him company.

He brings two virtues that, if maximized, will be decisive: talent and experience. Six times voted the best left-back in the world, he is considered one of the greatest of his generation. In addition, he has won numerous titles with Real Madrid and is used to experiencing decisive moments. Champions League finals abound, for example. He will have a decisive leadership role in Libertadores.

Highlights kept

Unlike previous years, Fluminense managed to keep the main highlights of the team for 2023. Of course, there was the sale of Matheus Martins at the end of last year, but the striker negotiated with Watford-ING was already a replacement for Luiz Henrique, sold in mid-2022 for Real Betis-ESP. The pillars, even with proposals, are still in the club.

The case that drew the most attention was that of André, who received a proposal of 20 million euros (about R$ 111 million) from Fulham-ING. Fluminense has signaled that it will not sell him immediately and will only discuss the matter at the end of the season. Paulo Henrique Ganso was contacted by Santos, but decided to renew his contract. Jhon Arias received polls from European clubs, but remained.

lighted barrel

It is curious to see that Germán Cano’s goals in 2022 were not by chance. There was a fear that the Argentine would not be able to repeat the enlightened phase he had in the previous season. After all, excluding the European stars, it is unthinkable to charge any athlete who scores 44 goals each year. The number 14, however, demonstrates that it is possible to go further.

This season, there are nine games in ten goals scored. Better numbers than at this very moment in the 2022 season. Three of them in classics, say – two against Vasco and one against Flamengo. Fluminense’s good phase goes through its top scorer undeniably.

Diniz lighter

Another important point is that Fernando Diniz won his first title with a big club. Of course, the Guanabara Cup is far from being the main tricolor goal of the season, but it’s hard to imagine how shouting “champion” in a crowded Maracanã and beating the biggest rival could be ignored by the coach and the cast.

At the press conference after the title, he commented on the matter. He said he has won trophies before and they were ignored. In fact, he won tournaments with Votoraty and Paulista de Jundiaí. But a big achievement was missing with a club of expression in Brazilian football that, finally, came.

Diniz still needs to confirm the title of Carioca to dispel the image of hitting the beam. With São Paulo, he even opened a good advantage in the leadership of the Brazilian and did not stay in the title, which ended up marking him negatively. What is certain is that the pressure has decreased at this point.

Good results against the millionaires

Thinking about Libertadores, it is clear that Fluminense — even after signing Marcelo — is far from having the payroll of Flamengo, Palmeiras or Atlético-MG. But it is curious to see that the tricolor has achieved good results in direct confrontations against them. The red-black has been the main victim in recent games: in the last 12 Fla-Flus, Fluminense won eight. Including a Carioca Championship title over the biggest rival. But the others are also included in this count, especially after Fernando Diniz took over the team.

Against Palmeiras, there were two games and two draws: both 1-1 at Allianz Parque and Maracanã. In the first of them, Diniz was at the beginning of the work, while in the second, alviverde was favorite for having the Brazilian title underway. In both, he had a bad performance against Fluminense, who had clear chances to win the games. In any case, the financial advantage of a millionaire cast did not materialize on the pitch.

As for Atlético-MG, balance: two games, one win and one defeat. But the tricolor victory at Maracanã was scored by 5 to 2, in one of the best performances by Fluminense by Fernando Diniz in this second passage. The Rooster had Hulk and all his other highlights. It remains to be seen how the meeting with Eduardo Coudet will go, since the miners have changed coaches.

High physical fitness

Fluminense’s physical preparation was highly contested by fans at the beginning of the season, but it has proved to be a success. During the World Cup in Qatar, while the clubs were on vacation, the tricolor spent remote activities for the squad. On the way back, the work was aimed at the team reaching its physical maturity in the final stretch of Carioca and at the beginning of Libertadores. And this can be seen on the field.

At Fla-Flu, Vítor Pereira complained about the “tired legs” of his athletes. Against Vasco, Maurício Barbieri also complained. While Fluminense manages to reflect and dominate the opponents also physically. It will be important at the start of the season, especially at the start of the Brazilian Championship and Libertadores.