The 4-0 against Vélez Sarsfield on August 31, 2022 marked Flamengo’s last great performance under the command of Dorival Júnior. A show that left the Argentines awestruck, with the team even overcoming the holes that coach Cacique Medina, from the Buenos Aires team, ordered to make on the pitch of the José Amalfitani stadium to make it difficult for the red and black ball to touch. It didn’t help.
After 616 days, the Rio team has seven other away matches in the Copa Libertadores: zero victories. Since then, the current champion from Rio de Janeiro went to Ecuador to lose to Aucas 2-1, in a comeback. It was the penultimate game for coach Vitor Pereira, who would be fired after the next match, 4-1 for Fluminense in the 2023 Rio championship decision.
Then, with Jorge Sampaoli as current coach, draws against Racing in Avellaneda and against the very modest Ñublense, in Chile, both 1-1. To conclude, still with the same coach, Flamengo went to Assunção, expanding the score aggregate to 2-0, but conceded three headed goals from Olimpia at Defensores del Chaco, being eliminated in the round of 16 of the last competition.
