“Flamengo suffers third defeat in Brasileirão amidst controversy over synthetic grass”

Flamengo

Three defeats in three games. This is the retrospective of Jorge Sampaoli’s Flamengo in the Brasileirão. Mais Querido’s only positive result in Serie A was the victory over Coritiba, in the championship’s debut, still under the command of interim Mário Jorge – coach of the Under-20. The third setback for Rubro-Negro in the national competition was the 2-1 in favor of Athletico-PR, this Sunday (7), at the Arena da Baixada.

In addition to the defeat, the Flamengo supporters also starred in a separate controversy: Gabigol vs. the synthetic lawn of the Arena da Baixada. Flamengo’s number 10 harshly criticized the Hurricane rug on the eve of the game, even defining it as a “horrible lawn”. During the confrontation between the Rubro-Negra teams, a poster in the stands drew attention. Athletico fans teased the striker with the words, “Gabigol, our grass is worth more than you”.

In an interview with ESPN, goalkeeper Bento was not left behind and took a stand on the controversy. The young archer criticized Gabi’s statement and was keen to point out that the synthetic lawn is no longer exclusive to the Arena da Baixada:

“I think it’s part of the game. Each player has his own way, I’m more guarded, in mine, I don’t like to make a controversial statement like he did. It’s part of the game, he can use it to try to destabilize us. But we were focused on making our game. It wasn’t a form of motivation for us, we just wanted to win. They talk a lot about Athletico-PR, about our synthetic grass, but the Palmeiras stadium, which also has synthetic grass, I don’t see many people talking about it”, he emphasized.

“It’s more just about Athletico-PR. Recently Botafogo also put it there in Engenhão. Let’s see if they’re going to say the same thing about Athletico-PR. Man, I think that the synthetic turf, nowadays, is much better than some fields that we face in the Serie A itself. I have nothing to complain about. The game is fast, the ball runs smoothly. It doesn’t have a scorer hill, there’s nothing to complain about. The pitch is wet for 90 minutes. I think this is an excuse for one or the other”, concluded Bento.