Zubeldía’s debut: Fluminense beat Botafogo and end hoodoo against rivals | OneFootball

In the debut of coach Luís Zubeldía, Fluminense defeated Botafogo this Sunday (28), at Maracanã, in the 25th round of the Brazilian Championship. Germán Cano and Lima scored the goals of the victory in the classic, which marks the end of a nine-game streak without defeating the rival.

The first half was quite eventful. Botafogo had more chances, but Fluminense was effective and took advantage of the great opportunity they had. On the Botafogo side, Newton unleashed a powerful shot from long range and hit the crossbar. Then, Vitinho went one-on-one with Fábio and shot straight at the tricolor goalkeeper. On the tricolor side, Cano did not forgive. After a beautiful exchange of passes between Acosta, Hércules, and Renê, Botafogo's defense got tangled while trying to clear the danger, and the ball fell to number 14, who opened the scoring with a header. Botafogo had another chance to score, but Freytes was precise and blocked Savarino's shot.

Photo: Divulgação/FFC

In the second half, Fluminense had a chance to extend their lead early on. Kevin Serna shot from outside the box, forcing goalkeeper Léo Linck to make a great save. From then on, the match became more bureaucratic. Botafogo dominated the actions in search of an equalizer, but lacked inspiration to threaten the tricolor defense. In the final stretch, at 43 minutes, Lima sealed the tricolor victory in the classic. Alert, Martinelli noticed the opposing defense disorganized and found his teammate alone entering the area. Number 45 dribbled past the defender and shot into the corner.

With the victory, Fluminense reaches 34 points and returns to 8th position in the table. The team's next commitment in the Brazilian Championship is on Wednesday (1st), at 7 p.m., against Sport, at Ilha do Retiro.

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