In what was a dramatic round of results, Flamengo are just 90 minutes away from winning the Brazilian Championship for the eighth time in their history.
After a grueling 90 minutes with lots of drama and talking points, Fla overtook Internacional and assumed the top of the table spot with one game to go.
We did say this game would be more or less a ‘final’ and it didn’t fail to disappoint. Flamengo claimed a 2-1 victory over Inter but it was far from a straight-forward win.
Inter got off to the perfect start after Edenilson scored from the penalty spot just after 12 minutes. Flamengo put up a good fight and got their deserved equalizer just on the stroke of the half hour mark with a good goal from Arrascaeta. The first half ended with both sides level.
The decisive moment in the game came just three minutes into the second half. Rodinei made an unnecessary rough tackle on Filipe Luis.
After a VAR Check, Raphael Claus had no choice but to give the Inter man his marching orders. From that moment, Flamengo gained the ascendency in the game.
Gabriel Barbosa might have scored a lot of goals for Flamengo but his latest goal might prove to be one of the most important in a red-black jersey. In a brilliant team move, Arrascaeta received a pass from Bruno Henrique and found Gabigol in the area. The striker made no mistake from close range to score his 14th league goal of the season. That goal also saw him overatke Pedro to become the club’s top-scorer in the league this season as well.
With the victory, Flamengo are up to 71 points and lead the Brazilian Championship with a game to go. Inter are only a point behind and it’s set to go down to the wire.
Both teams will return to the field on Thursday for their concluding fixtures. Fla travel to Morumbi to take on São Paulo, while Inter welcome Corinthians to Beira-Rio.
Is history about to repeat itself? Back In 2009, Flamengo beat Corinthians in the 37th round and also moved top of the table. They won their final game against Grêmio to be crowned champions.
Back to the present, Fla have once again gone top of the league with one round to go. Their title ambition is now in their hands and we’ll see what happens on Thursday.
