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Gonzalo Plata scored a stunner in Flamengo’s rout of Atlético-MG

If Gonzalo Plata is at Arena MRV, the Ecuadorian scores a beauty. That was the case this Sunday (26), in the 4-0 thrashing of Atlético-MG in Belo Horizonte. The winger even had some ‘friction’ with Leonardo Jardim because of his off-field behavior. Now, the player has won over the Portuguese coach and has become a ‘reinforcement’ for the Rubro-Negro squad for the rest of the season.

— I’ve already spoken before about Plata’s qualities and also about the first phase, when his integration was not within what we expected. From the moment he bought into the group’s ideas in terms of work and attitude, the talent has always been there. I’ve known Plata since the Sporting (POR) days; he is a player I’ve followed and whose qualities I know well — Jardim began.

— I knew he had scored an extremely important goal here, and I also wanted to talk about the goal and his defensive attitude in the match. He helped Varela a lot, and that was important for us to keep the channels balanced. Atlético are a team that like to build from the back and attack the channels. Plata, Lino, and later (Luiz) Araújo managed to provide that balance — the coach added, in response to a question from Coluna do Fla during the press conference.

HOW DID THE FORWARD PERFORM AT ARENA MRV?

As highlighted by Leonardo Jardim, Plata played a key role in Flamengo’s defensive recovery on the right flank. However, the winger did not contribute only defensively. In attack, the Ecuadorian scored a true screamer from outside the box in the 30th minute of the first half.

WILL PLATA PLAY ON WEDNESDAY?

Gonzalo Plata played the full 90 minutes at Arena MRV on the synthetic pitch. So now there is anticipation over whether the winger will be fit enough to start this Wednesday’s (29) clash against Estudiantes (ARG) in La Plata, in the third round of Group A of the competition.

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