Filipe Luís downplays Plata’s red card against São Paulo: “Not intentional” | OneFootball

Flamengo was leading São Paulo 2-1 when forward Gonzalo Plata, in the 22nd minute of the second half, received a straight red card after a hard tackle on Arboleda. Despite this being the Ecuadorian's third sending-off in two months, coach Filipe Luís “let it slide” for the player and stated that, in his view, the athlete was not at fault in the incident.

“Punishments for players always depend on the club's board. Of course, I take part. But for me, a sending-off like Plata's was unintentional. It was unintentional because he went for the ball and ended up hitting the player's leg. He was giving absolutely everything for the team during the game, he was running. I will never blame a player for making a mistake like that. On the contrary, I'm here to take the blame myself,” said Filipe Luís.

Mistakes take their toll

Next, coach Filipe Luís stated that Flamengo's individual mistakes during matches are costly for the team, especially in the race for the title in a league format.

“In league play, in the most important and high-pressure moments, more mistakes are made. However, our mistakes have been lethal for us, costing us important points. Every point we lose makes it harder and further away from achieving our goal of becoming champions. Certainly, this Wednesday there were more mistakes, which became even harder to reverse,” concluded the Flamengo coach.

Photo: Gilvan de Souza / Flamengo

With the 2-2 draw against São Paulo this Wednesday, Flamengo reached 65 points in 31 matches in the Brazilian Championship, occupying second place in the competition.

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