Flúnel of time: Maracanã Libertadores debut recalls Arsenal-ARG rout | OneFootball

Fluminense has a special relationship with the Maracanã on Libertadores nights, especially when facing Argentine teams. Throughout its history, Tricolor has already had memorable home debuts in the continental competition — and one of the most emblematic happened in 2008.

In that edition, Fluminense played its first Libertadores match at the Maracanã precisely against an Argentine club, a scenario now repeated in the current season.

Debut with a historic rout

On March 5, 2008, Fluminense hosted Arsenal de Sarandí at the Maracanã and delivered a dominant performance in one of the club’s great nights in the competition.

Roared on by the fans, the team coached by Renato Gaúcho completely overpowered its opponent and built a 6-0 thrashing, in control from start to finish.

Thiago Neves opened the scoring in the first half, followed by Dodô and Gabriel. In the second half, Tricolor kept up the pace and added more through Dodô again — with a stunning goal, hitting it first-time from outside the box —, Washington, and Cícero, turning the home debut into a true spectacle at the Maracanã.

The result not only secured three important points, but also gave confidence to a team that, months later, would make history by reaching the Libertadores final.

Strength at the Maracanã remains a key weapon

The thrashing of the Argentines reinforced an important pattern in Fluminense’s campaigns: strength at home.

That remains true today. Tricolor will defend a long unbeaten home run in the Libertadores, having not lost at the Maracanã in the competition since 2021, when it was beaten by Junior Barranquilla.

Since then, the team has played 15 home matches, with 12 wins and three draws, including the 2023 title-winning campaign, when it got past opponents such as Olimpia, Argentinos Juniors, Internacional, and Boca Juniors.

Match details — Fluminense 6-0 Arsenal-ARG (2008)

Competition: CONMEBOL Libertadores Date: 03/05/2008 Venue: Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro (RJ)

Fluminense: Fernando Henrique; Gabriel, Luiz Alberto, Thiago Silva and Junior Cesar (Roger); Ygor, Arouca (Fabinho), Conca and Thiago Neves (Cícero); Dodô and Washington. Coach: Renato Gaúcho

Arsenal-ARG: Cuenca; Espínola, Mosquera, Matellán and Cristian Díaz; Carrera (Gómez), San Martín (Pellegrino), Castiglione and Yacuzzi; Biaggini (Leguizamón) and Calderón. Coach: Gustavo Alfaro

Goals: Thiago Neves (14’/1st half), Dodô (24’/1st half and 5’/2nd half), Gabriel (44’/1st half), Washington (26’/2nd half), and Cícero (40’/2nd half) Yellow cards: Cuenca, Díaz, and Pellegrino (Arsenal) Referee: Carlos Torres (Paraguay) Attendance: 32,614 paid (35,436 total present)

Next chapter

Fluminense will experience a similar scenario again this Wednesday, when it hosts Independiente Rivadavia – 04/15/206, at 9:30 p.m., at the Maracanã, for Matchday 2 of the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores group stage.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.