De La Cruz in bizarre row with ref in Flamengo v Cusco; watch | OneFootball

De La Cruz and the referee stared each other down after an unusual incident

Flamengo beat Cusco (PER) 2-0, but it wasn’t all joy for Nico De La Cruz. In the second half, the Uruguayan was involved in a comical moment with referee Derlis López (PAR) and got angry with the official, even squaring up to him for a few seconds.

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Derlis awarded a foul in favor of Flamengo. Angry, a Cusco player went forehead-to-forehead with Bruno Henrique. Then De La Cruz stepped in to shove the opponent. Right after that, the referee blew the whistle loudly right next to the Uruguayan’s ear to stop the commotion.

Annoyed, the No. 18 questioned the referee as if to say, “what was that for?” and put his hand to his ear. Concerned, Lucas Paquetá pulled his teammate away, as he protested furiously to the man in black. Despite the unusual incident, the red-and-black midfielder was not shown a yellow card.

HOW DID DE LA CRUZ PLAY AGAINST CUSCO?

De La Cruz, who has previously missed matches for Flamengo and the Uruguay national team because of altitude, ended up being named in the starting lineup against Cusco, at 3,400 meters above sea level. The Uruguayan played 84 minutes and stood out.

However, due to load management, De La Cruz is a doubt for Flamengo’s next game of the season, against Fluminense, in the 11th round of the Brasileirão. In addition to the altitude and the long trip, Mengão was delayed getting back to Rio de Janeiro, landing only on Thursday night (09).

WHEN WILL FLAMENGO VS FLUMINENSE BE, AFTER ALL?

Initially scheduled for Saturday (11), Flamengo vs. Fluminense could be postponed to Sunday (12) because of Flamengo’s logistical issues after leaving Peru. However, the kickoff time would remain 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time) at the Maracanã.

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