The leaders of group A and B of the Campeonato Carioca, Fluminense and Botafogo, respectively, hit the brakes at the start of this Sunday’s classic, taking mixed teams to the field, seeking to save the squad for the Brazilian Championship. The weather didn’t help either and the heavy rain at Nilton Santos, which stopped the game for around 10 minutes, also left the players with little commitment to the intensity of the duel in the initial stage. Only with the arrival of starters did the duel take the form of a true high-level clash, which ended with great opportunities and a 1-0 for the tricolor. The goal of the match went to John Kennedy, for Fluminense.
The black and white team was already classified for the quarter-finals of the tournament when they entered the field, so coach Martín Anselmi added to the 11 only two starters from the rout of Cruzeiro, in the Brazilian’s debut: Mateo Ponte, as defender, and midfielder Allan. Even defender Bastos, who hadn’t played for over a year due to a serious injury, returned to the field. The tricolor, which needed the victory to qualify in advance, took five starters.
This greater number of starters and the fact that it is a more integrated team than the black and white team, meant that Fluminense created the best chances in the initial stage, even though they were few. In total, the teams finished six times (two for Botafogo; four for Tricolor). The best opportunities came from midfielder Lima, who stole the ball and had a great chance to open the score, but shot wide; another from Guga, a free kick, but which stopped at goalkeeper Léo Linck.
Anselmi’s mixed team found it difficult to mark Martinelli’s throws, who went down to the left side, giving space to Arana’s rises, while trying to turn the ball over to Canobbio’s runs, on the right. In one of Martinelli’s shots, the Uruguayan also stopped at goalkeeper Léo Linck.
On the left, Arana, with space to go up, almost made an unintentional assist, as he finished strongly and the ball ended up at the feet of Santi Moreno, inside the area, who took it off the mark, but isolated it.
The game finally heated up when the two coaches put their cards on the table and called on the starters. Botafogo started to create much more with Danilo’s launches and the movements of Santi Rodríguez and Montoro in attack. But it was Fluminense who came out ahead, thanks to the night’s luxury reserves.
Savarino, ex-Botafogo player, managed a great finish on the right side after just a few touches of the ball, after a beautiful pass from Lucho Acosta, but stopped at Léo Linck. In the next move, after a great exchange between four players, Acosta served the ball to striker John Kennedy, who waited for the goalkeeper to leave to touch the ball with class into the back of the goal.
The black and white team infiltrated the Tricolor defense more often, but had no opportunity to make moves that would really make Fábio’s night difficult.
With the result, Fluminense reaches 12 points, while Botafogo stands at nine and suffers its first defeat with Anselmi in charge, as the first match was played with the under-20 team.
Tricolor’s next game is against Bahia, at Arena Fonte Nova, on Thursday, at 7pm. The black and white team will face Grêmio this Wednesday, at 9:30 pm.
