Zubeldía sees Fluminense dominance, explains Soteldo call: “It suited him”

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·27 April 2026

Zubeldía sees Fluminense dominance, explains Soteldo call: “It suited him”

Fluminense beat Chapecoense 2-1 at the Maracanã in a match valid for the Brazilian Championship. After the game, head coach Luis Zubeldía assessed the team’s performance and highlighted Tricolor’s control throughout the match, although he regretted the lack of more goals to turn that dominance into a more comfortable scoreline.

— We deserved to win, from start to finish. We had almost absolute control. Then the game got complicated by things that are part of football. Sometimes, you have the chances, the stats, and the tools to put a game away and you just can’t. The opponent stays one goal away from equalizing and makes things difficult for you. That’s what happened — the coach analyzed.

Zubeldía stressed that, given the amount of chances created, the result could have been more emphatic. For the Argentine, Fluminense put in a solid performance, but lacked the efficiency to avoid any risk late in the match.

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— I repeat that we had absolute control. When you win with that kind of control, it’s better, like it was today. And if you win by a large margin, it’s even better. We needed to score more so we wouldn’t have to suffer. I think that would have been the fairest outcome based on how the game went — he added.

The coach also commented on the choice to use Soteldo during the match. According to him, the opponent’s characteristics favored the Venezuelan’s introduction, as he is more comfortable operating in tight spaces and in dribbling situations.

— Serna is a player who thrives more in space and in one-on-one situations. Against a deeper back five, we felt it was a game suited to Soteldo’s characteristics, because he’s a player who can dribble in tight spaces and has presence in the box. It seemed like the match suited him — he explained.

With the win at the Maracanã, Fluminense reached 26 points and sit in third place in the Brazilian Championship. The club has the same number of points as Flamengo, who are in second place on tiebreakers.

Tricolor return to action next Thursday, away from home, when they face Bolívar in the Copa Libertadores.

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