Fluminense has had a pending dream for a long time: to win the title in the Copa Libertadores. The club, one of the most popular in Rio de Janeiro, will begin its eighth participation in the tournament on Tuesday, when it faces Millonarios in El Campín.
The closest Fluminense came to being crowned continental champion was in 2008, when it lost the Cup final against Liga Deportiva Universitaria, from Ecuador, shooting from the penalty spot, closing at home in the Maracana.
The following year, the ‘Flu’ reached the final of the South American Cup, which they lost against the same rival: they fell 5-1 in the first leg in Quito and won 3-0 in the second leg, in Rio.
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Now, Fluminense arrives with a great streak, with seven consecutive victories in the Carioca Championship. The most important, the one he achieved as a visitor in the classic against Flamengo, 0-1, with a goal from a well-known face in Bogotá: Colombian Jhon Arias, former player of América and Santa Fe.
Fluminense got his hands on the payroll and was reinforced by thinking big. These are the five players to watch in the first leg of the series against Millonarios at El Campín:
Felipe Melo: a two-time champion changed houses
To pursue the dream of winning the Libertadores, Fluminense was reinforced with a specialist, the experienced Felipe Melo, 38 years old. The midfielder, distinguished by his temperament and grit, was part of the Palmeiras squad that won the last two editions of the continental tournament,
Melo, who also went through Flamengo, Cruzeiro, Gremio, Mallorca, Racing de Santander, Fiorentina, Juventus, Galatasaray and Inter Milan, started the campaign that led Palmeiras to win the Libertadores in 2020, but was later left out due to injury. . He reappeared for the final against Santos. Already last year he became an alternative, but he also entered the definition of the title against Flamengo.
Another experienced member of the Fluminense squad is striker Fred, Copa América champion with Brazil in 2007 and a member of the squad that played in the 2014 World Cup.
Fred returned to Fluminense in 2020, after having played eight years in his first stage, from 2009 to 2016. In that parenthesis he went through Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro. Strong and a goalscorer, he will be a tough challenge for the blue defense. On paper, he would be the starter.
The one who is an alternative in the Flu is Paulo Henrique Ganso, another one who already knows what it is to win Conmebol tournaments: with Santos, his first club, he won the Copa Libertadores in 2011, and then, with Sao Paulo, he won the Recopa in 2011 and the South American in 2012.
Ganso, who played in Seville and Amiens, arrived at Fluminense in 2019, barely returning to competition after having suffered a broken arm, while trying to finish off the Chilean in the second leg of the quarterfinals of the Libertadores last year against Barcelona of Guayaquil. He was five months without playing.
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The Colombian share of Fluminense
Germán Ezequiel Cano returns to Colombia, this time, as a member of Fluminense, club to which he arrived as a reinforcement this semester from Vasco da Gama.
The 34-year-old Argentine arrived in the country for Deportivo Pereira in 2011 and then had a brilliant campaign with Independiente Medellín, of which he became the top scorer in its history. He scored 137 goals in the country, 127 in the League and 10 in the Cup. Millonarios went to the team that scored the most goals for him: 9 in 8 games.
Cano is not a regular starter for Fluminense, but in four matches in the Rio de Janeiro championship, two of them as a starter, he has already scored two goals.
It should be remembered that Cano has expressed his interest in playing with the Colombian National Team and that, shortly before going to play in Brazil, he was doing the process to obtain nationality.
The other familiar face of Fluminense in the country is John Adolfo Arias, who came to this club in the middle of last year from independent Santa Fe.
Arias, born in Quibdó 24 years ago, was in Dorados and Xolos de Tijuana, in Mexico, without playing a game. His professional career began with Patriotas de Boyacá. He was also in Llaneros, in B, and in América de Cali, where he was champion in 2020.
(In other news: Was there a fight in the Colombian National Team? James Rodríguez broke the silence)
With Fluminense, Arias has already played 26 games and has scored three goals, the most important being the victory in the classic against Flamengo.
“It’s not the game of the year, but it has a different flavor because it’s an international competition (…) that is played in a different way,” said Fluminense coach Abel Braga.
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