It was a seven-goal thriller that had it all. From red cards to comebacks to talking points, there was lots of action as Flamengo beat Bahia 4-3 at the stadium on Saturday night.
Flamengo started on the front foot and grabbed the early opener via Bruno Henrique in the fifth minute. Four minutes later, it got worse for the home side as Gabigol was shown a straight red card after a dispute with Ernando.
That did not stop Flamengo from making their mark on the game as they doubled their lead through Elsa in the 23rd minute.
The first half ended with Fla 2-0 up at the interval but there was to be drama in the second half.
Just at the start of the second half, Ramires pulled one back for Bahia in the 50th minute before Gilberto scored twice in the space of three minutes to give Bahia a shock comeback and put them 3-2 up. There was also an incident where Gerson accused Ramirez of racism with the Flamengo star claiming he was told ‘shut up, black’ by the Bahia midfielder.
Two substitutes would go on to save the day for Fla. Pedro, who only came on in the 72nd minute, scored after just 10 minutes on the pitch to equalize and make it 3-3. Three minutes later, Vitinho was brought in from the bench and he also found the net after just five minutes on the pitch to make it 4-2 in favor of Fla.
In stoppage time, Danielzinho was also shown a straight red to end the game in disappointing fashion for Bahia. It is yet another poor outing for Bahia as they suffered their fifth straight defeat under Mano Menezes.
With the victory, Flamengo are in second place with 48 points and five points off first place São Paulo. However, they have a game in hand. For their last game of 2020, Flamengo will take on Fortaleza this coming Saturday.
