Flamengo’s crisis: Fluminense player on Carioca favourites | OneFootball

Fluminense Captain Samuel Xavier Gave a Press Conference This Friday (06)

Flamengo is going through a turbulent week, with the dismissal of Filipe Luís. Can Fluminense take advantage of this? In the view of Samuel Xavier, captain of the rival team, no. The full-back looked ahead to the final of the Campeonato Carioca, which takes place this Sunday (08), at Maracanã.

— This can't be a distraction for us, regardless of what the opponent is going through. As I said, every derby is a different game. We know the quality of their team. Our team is very humble in recognizing the quality of the opponent — began Samuel.

— There’s no such thing as favoritism, that stays outside. When the referee blows the whistle, all of that ends. Regardless of what they are going through, the most important thing is for us to play our football, keep growing, because that will be important for us this season — he added.

FLUMINENSE WITH MORE DRIVE?

A common ‘complaint’ among Flamengo fans about the derbies with Fluminense is the rival’s heightened drive in these matches. Asked if this extra motivation really happens, Samuel Xavier assured that the clash is treated like any other, but that there is a special flavor in case of victory.

— Our team doesn’t pick and choose which games to go into with more grit or more willpower. Of course, a derby, when you win, is special because it’s a derby. But we try to bring our identity to every match, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This record against our opponent has nothing to do with it being against Flamengo — he said.

— If you watch Fluminense’s games, our identity is always the same, of commitment and grit. We hope to keep giving our all and keep winning, regardless of our opponent — concluded the full-back from the Laranjeiras team.

WHEN WAS SAMUEL XAVIER’S INTERVIEW?

Samuel Xavier’s answers were given at a FERJ event to promote the final of the Campeonato Carioca. In addition to the Fluminense full-back, Jorginho represented Flamengo at the event. Check out below more comments from the rival athlete about the match that will take place at 6 pm (Brasília time) this Sunday (08).

THE DERBY

“Each derby, regardless of the history, has a different story. Our team is a team that is very humble about that. We leave the past behind, we know about the victories we’ve had. But I think each derby has a different story. Now it’s a single match, and we, regardless of what was done in the past, have to go in with all possible seriousness and be able to write a new beautiful story in the tricolor shirt.”

ANOTHER ANSWER ABOUT DRIVE

“Sometimes from the outside it looks like (Fluminense has more drive), but on the field it hasn’t been like that, no (laughs). It hasn’t been easy like that, all the Fla-Flus have been tough. They are very difficult games, it’s a derby. We don’t want to lose any game, and especially not a derby. They have been very hard-fought matches, on both sides. Both teams have gone in with full determination. We have this characteristic, a very strong identity. I hope we keep this identity to get more and more wins and more titles.”

FLUMINENSE’S PRECAUTIONS FOR THE FINAL

“These finals have always been tough games, because it’s a derby, because of the magnitude of this derby here in Rio. In these games, you always have to be as careful as possible. We know the quality of our opponent, our team always has to be prepared. We know they have a very fast attack and very good ball possession. We are training for that.”

FLUMINENSE AT HOME IN THE MARACANÃ?

“The numbers are good, I feel good, I feel happy playing at the Maraca, at our home, in front of our fans. The ones who make the difference are our fans, who always support us, always sing. I say in interviews that they are our fuel, so the ones who make the difference are our fans at home, who sing all the time and support us. This has contributed to these positive numbers. And I hope it continues like this.”

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