Paquetá back at Mineirão with Flamengo, aiming to close Libertadores wound | OneFootball

According to Globo.com, Lucas Paquetá has recovered from injury and travelled with Flamengo to face Cruzeiro at the Mineirão in the Libertadores round of 16, eight years after a painful elimination to the same opponents.

He was 20 when he last played a Libertadores knockout, also against Cruzeiro. Suspended for the first leg after a booking in a group match with River Plate that only decided placings, he missed the 2-0 defeat at the Maracanã. Flamengo won the return 1-0 at the Mineirão but went out on aggregate.

In that first leg, coach Maurício Barbieri used Jean Lucas in Paquetá’s role and picked Uribe up front, neither convinced and neither travelled for the second game in Belo Horizonte.

Now back at Flamengo after a 42 million euro move, billed as the biggest signing in Brazilian football history, Paquetá has overcome a muscle injury in the back of his left thigh sustained at the World Cup. He began his recovery with Brazil in the United States before rejoining the club.

Cleared to train and with the squad in Belo Horizonte, his involvement is down to coach Leonardo Jardim. Paquetá says the reunion feels special, he admits the 2018 exit hurt and he hopes to fare better this time, adding that he had been eager to return and is targeting a victorious comeback. He noted that Gerson is a friend and former idol there, but on the pitch they will be on opposite sides.

Source: Globo.com

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”