Opinion

Flamengo to win the league

Opinion by George

20.10.25

After the humdinger in Rio yesterday it’s tight at the top of Serie A, with Flamengo now in second place and now neck and neck points wise with the team that they disposed of on Sunday afternoon, its game back on to see who can claim the Brazilian title!

After a couple of frustrating games earlier in the month, Flamengo found themselves lagging behind The Palm trees, having been in poll position for the majority of the season. They got back to winning ways with a routine win over Champions Botafogo in mid-week and now they will fancy their chances of seeing off the threat of Palmeiras and win the league for the first time since 2020.

Verdao of course will have their own aspirations of winning the league and it is they who currently hold top spot. Up until yesterday’s defeat they had been going with all guns blazing like a steam train towards what would be a third title triumph in four years. Before their trip to The Maracana they had only lost once in their previous ten league games, won the last four and scored fifteen goals within those four games. Vitor Roque and Jose Lopez have been particularly in form, scoring eight of those fifteen goals between them, and the former was once again on the score sheet as his team fell short in Rio.

However good Palmeiras have been over recent months, Sunday belonged to Fla and Felipe Luiz. Mengao spent big and backed the former Chelsea defender with big name signings like Jorge Carrascal and Samuel Lino coming from Europe costing near £30 million combined. Also flying in from Europe were, Emerson Royal, Jorginho, Saul and Danilo who as a quartet added quality and experience to an already talented group of players and now they are back on track , and looking good to clam what many predicted would be theirs at the start of the season, the Brasileiro title.

The game in itself on Sunday was of high quality, a football feast and befitting of its high class billing as a massive game between two heavy weights of Brazilian and South American football. The match started quickly and after De Arrascaeta raced through to put the hosts ahead, Roque guided a controlled header back where it came from to level on 24 minutes. Jorginho then grabbed his first goal since he came to Brazil, putting the home side ahead once again from the spot. Pedro put Flamengo further ahead. He slid home under pressure after winning back the ball, playing a one two with De Arrascaeta and then finishing smartly, just before half time. Late acrobatics from Gustavo Gomez to find the net, didn’t have any bearing on the scoreline at full time, neither did a late red card for Palmeiras left back Piquerez, as Flamengo completed a double over their visitors and edged closer to top spot.

With that win it also means that Flamengo are still unbeaten at home all season long in the league. The last side to win at the Maracana was Galo in early August in a cup match. In fact Fla are unbeaten at their home stadium in the league for over a year now with the last team to win their being Fluminense in a Rio derby just over a year ago to the day of writing in October 2024. If Fla are going to win their first title for five years you feel that home form will certainly play a part. The same can also be said for Palmeiras, they have lost just twice at the Allianz Parque in the league all season, one of those games was against Flamengo in May. Both sides have more away games to play, then home fixtures out of their ten remaining fixtures, so it will be interesting to see how the two clubs cope on their travels as the pressure starts to build.

One thing is for sure though, as the season heads towards an exciting finish, my money, as it has been from the start, is on the boys in red and black, Flamengo, to bag the trophy and triumph…it has been too long.