Jorginho on life after 1 year at Flamengo: “Feels like 3 in Europe” | OneFootball

From the moment you step onto the pitch representing, right, the jersey and the nation, you have to play for real, because whether you like it or not, these are the matches that prepare you for when the league starts again and the Libertadores comes around. So, I believe it will just be a reflection of how we’re preparing right now, it’s not about arriving, starting, and already being ready. You have to start preparing. Regroup the team, right, because there was a pretty long break, everyone went their own way, everyone went to enjoy their family, their free time. So when you spend this time together, where you’re there every day at the hotel, in training, you reconnect with the group, reconnect with the team’s ideas, and you get ready so that when things start again, you’re already flowing well, right, with the project, with how we want to play.

No, the biggest demand is always to train as if you were going to play, right? Because the match is a reflection of training. With that in mind, we’ve been training several game situations that, when you play every three days, you end up not having the chance to practice certain circumstances. So I believe the manager is doing a good job in terms of working on the low block today, working on high pressing, working on the attacking side. That way, the coach is having time to work on that now, right? As I said, playing every three days makes it more complicated.

I believe it’s a very good relationship. That’s what I feel, right? And that moment there, whether you like it or not, is one where when you’re playing and everything is happening, so much going on at the same time, we often forget to stop for a minute to understand what’s really happening, you know? So, I’m a person who likes to observe, to really be able to feel everything that’s going on and understand it. It’s happened before that I was in the middle of that craziness, celebrating and all, and didn’t really stop to process everything that was happening. I think it was an important moment for me and it was very good.

The expectations when you play for Flamengo are always high, right? And that expectation comes from what the club itself and the team have been doing. If we hadn’t won, if we didn’t have the squad we have, if we didn’t have the ability to go far, expectations wouldn’t be sky-high. So it’s just a reflection of what we can deliver. We know it’s going to be a difficult match, right, against a strong team (Cruzeiro in the Libertadores round of 16), but we also know we have to think about what comes before that. There’s still a lot to happen.

It was a really nice experience. I like learning, living through experiences, so it was definitely something very positive. And as for the timing, of the three matches, I did two remotely, right? So you’re not there in person and sometimes you miss the exact moment to jump in with a comment.

Honestly, I was watching Brazil as a fan. Since I know there’s no possibility of playing for the Seleção, I watched as a supporter, because it’s the country where I was born and I love Brazil very much. I was really watching as a fan, I always want the best for the country. If Italy had been at the World Cup, I would have wanted to be playing, but since they weren’t… It’s a sad situation, the moment the Italian national team is going through, and I include myself in that too, because I was there in two of those opportunities. So, it’s a difficult and sad moment for the Italian national team. It’s something that, unfortunately, is missing in my career, right? A huge journey, I’d say an incredible one, from where I started, my story. And this is something that’s kind of marked me, you know? It stays with me… It’s something that hurts, it’s not simple. At the same time that you’re grateful for everything you’ve done, you know that so little was missing to achieve that too, you know? So that’s how it is, it’s part of it.

It will definitely be a high-level match against a European team that plays in the Champions League every year. So, for sure, the opponent won’t come in weak, they’ll come in to compete. Yeah, sometimes it changes because of tactics, maybe, right? European teams play in a slightly different way. I believe Benfica is also a team that likes to control the game, because it’s one of the biggest teams in Portugal, if not the biggest. So, the opponent will try to control the game and that will probably be what we try to do as well. That’s why I believe it will be a great spectacle.

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