Zubeldía downplays favourites tag before Carioca semi vs Vasco | OneFootball

Fluminense won their quarter-final match of the Campeonato Carioca on Monday night against Bangu, 3-1, at Maracanã. To fight for a spot in the final, the team led by Luis Zubeldía now faces Vasco, who defeated Volta Redonda on penalties to qualify for the semi-final.

  View this photo on Instagram   A post shared by Fluminense F.C. (@fluminensefc)

Regarding the Carioca classic, Zubeldía was cautious when asked if he saw Fluminense as the favorite. The coach also stated that the match for the Carioca is different from the semi-final of the Copa do Brasil, when Vasco eliminated Flu on penalties.

“No. I always want my team to win. We are focused on ourselves. To reach the final, we have to overcome Vasco. We will do our best to advance, which is what we want,” he said.

“These are different matches. It's a classic. It's 180 minutes again, we can play a good match as we have been doing. These are different contexts. I feel the team has been responding despite the contexts. In the first game, I think we will play here. We will try to make the first minutes very good and then we will see the other 90,” he added.

Zubeldía also remained grounded when asked how he feels after matching the 1942 team's record for consecutive home victories — 16 wins at home.

“With respect to numbers and statistics, but it's not something I like. I even feel uncomfortable. I believe that at home, it's always good to win, the fans celebrate twice as much. I'm happier to see people happy with the victory than with the record. It's good to know we are strong, it's a message to the outside,” said the 45-year-old coach.

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