Arrascaeta shines, celebrates Flamengo’s Intercontinental spot | OneFootball

Flamengo is through to the semifinals of the Intercontinental Cup and secured their spot by defeating Cruz Azul-MEX 2-1 in Doha, Qatar. Arrascaeta was decisive, scoring both goals and reinforcing the outstanding season he is having with the red-and-black jersey. The Uruguayan celebrated his individual form and highlighted the importance of the Rio team’s qualification, especially given the fatigue typical at the end of the season.

“I’m extremely happy with everything that has happened this year. Achievements, the birth of my son, health. I can’t ask for anything more. I always say that now it’s time to enjoy the moment with my teammates here, we have another opportunity to reach a final,” the player said in an interview with SporTV.

“We still have a rival, whom we need to study in the coming days. We are very happy, because we came from a very tough stretch, a very long trip. We’re happy to advance to the next stage,” he added.

Arrascaeta is having an exceptional season with Flamengo. In 62 matches, the midfielder has contributed 25 goals and 18 assists, totaling 43 goal involvements. This Wednesday, he shone once again with two goals.

Flamengo opened the scoring at the 14th minute of the first half. Piovi made a mistake in the build-up and the ball fell to Arrascaeta, unmarked, who dribbled past goalkeeper Gudiño and slotted it into the net. In the second half, at the 26th minute, the Uruguayan tried to pass to Bruno Henrique in the box, but the ball came back to him and he chipped the goalkeeper.

“We had already trained for that [the play for the first goal]. We knew they would take some risks playing out from the back. I was lucky in the play, it fell to me. Very happy. At the time, I already realized in the play [that the ball went in for the second goal]. I tried to assist Bruno Henrique, who was arriving alone. It came back to me. The important thing is that we won,” said the player.

Now, Flamengo will face Pyramids, from Egypt, in the semifinal. The match will be this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. (Brasília time) at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium. If they advance to the final, the Red-and-Black will face the powerful PSG, last season’s Champions League winners.

“The focus is on the next opponent, which will certainly be a very tough match. We’ve had a lot of wear and tear throughout the year. It’s one more effort we’ll have to make,” concluded Arrascaeta.

Flamengo’s Next Match

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