Flamengo – Internacional: Filipe Luis’ team decides Libertadores first leg with a set piece (1-0)

Flamengo and Internacional faced each other in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores Round of 16 at Maracanã, the traditional and historic stadium in Rio de Janeiro. After their campaign in the FIFA Club World Cup, Flamengo managed to take the lead in the Brasileirão despite performance fluctuations, while Internacional recovered a positive run of results after a mid-season dip in form. Both teams were recently knocked out of the Copa do Brasil and are fighting to stay alive in knockout competitions.

Tactical analysis and match report by Marcus Arboés.

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Filipe Luis, former left-back for the Brazilian national team and Atlético de Madrid, became a professional coach last year and has already shown good signs of his talent in the FIFA Club World Cup, but still needs to deal with inconsistencies and has rotated his starting lineup quite a bit. 

In the Libertadores, he started with goalkeeper Rossi, center-backs Léo Ortiz and Léo Pereira, Alex Sandro (former Juventus) and Emerson Royal (former Milan) as fullbacks. Further forward, Samuel Lino (former Atleti) and Jorginho (that one from Chelsea and Arsenal) were the most important and well-known players. They used a 4-2-4 shape, with four advanced players up front.

Roger Machado, in turn, has to deal with a series of injured players and, even though he has a core starting XI, he made several changes to the team’s lineup. A 4-2-3-1 formation with Uruguayan Rochet in goal. In defense, the highlight was Juninho, who has been earning a starting spot alongside Vitão in Mercado’s absence. Alan Rodríguez kept his place as the second holding midfielder alongside Thiago Maia. Alan Patrick played as a central attacking midfielder, with two wingers: Wesley on the left and Bruno Tabata on the right side. The promising young striker Ricardo Mathias took the starting role as the number nine. The big absence was key player Carbonero, who is sidelined with a thigh injury.

Flamengo’s superiority in Rio de Janeiro

In Brazil, culturally we’re used to seeing Flamengo as a team that imposes itself on its opponents with a possession-based style of play, regardless of the build-up method or overall playstyle. In this match, it was no different, but with the choice of four forwards, the idea seemed to be to draw Internacional forward in order to use players capable of breaking free behind the last defensive line: Samuel Lino (LW), Luiz Araújo (RW) and Bruno Henrique with Gonzalo Plata taking on more central attacking roles.

At first, Internacional didn’t fall into this trap, even though Flamengo showed flashes of trying quick attacks exploiting the space behind Internacional’s last defensive line in the first minutes. Roger Machado’s strategy was to have his team defending in a mid-low block in a 4-4-2 with zonal pressing behavior, always with the second-line player stepping up to pressure the pass receiver while the others adjusted to close down the spaces.

With that, Flamengo’s vertical 4-2-4 outline began to shift into a 3-2-5 shape when attacking fully in the opponent’s half. One of the holding midfielders, Jorginho or Allan, would drop between the center-backs, while the other acted as a link for inside passing connections. The right fullback (Emerson) used the wide corridor, while Alex Sandro, on the left, contributed more to the build-up and attacked space from the outside in. Further forward, Samuel Lino held width on the left, with the other forwards rotating positions and heights across the three central lanes, following a more positional play logic.

With that, most of Flamengo’s plays focused on exploiting attacks starting from the flanks. The center-backs – Léo Ortiz and Léo Pereira – were responsible for scanning and switching play to whoever attacked the space on the opposite side of Internacional’s compact defense. Emerson Royal, on the right, was targeted several times in the first half, while Samuel Lino, on the left, received two long switch passes, one of them almost leading to a goal.

Even so, it wasn’t a particularly effective first half despite the superiority in possession. Since the team almost always drifted toward the left side, due to the tactical setup, the game often got stuck there. As Emerson Royal was not providing good continuity in the plays, the best way to unlock the attack came from Samuel Lino receiving the ball wide on the left, looking for one or more dribbles and getting past opponents through skill.

Although Aguirre, Internacional’s right fullback, controlled the distance well and, through marking, forced Samuel Lino away from depth, when Flamengo attacked he managed to get past three markers in the move that led to the corner kick from which the winning goal came. Luiz Araújo delivered another good cross for an assist, and Bruno Henrique, who did not have a good game, headed the ball into the net. It is worth highlighting here the strategy of drawing the marking with two strong aerial threats and using Alex Sandro to block an Internacional player, leaving Bruno free to head the ball — great credit to the coaching staff.

Defensive strengths

Flamengo’s superiority, even though they had plenty of possession and the best chances in the first half, was not expressed only in that way at Maracanã. During the opening period, Internacional only managed to create danger three times, and on all occasions Léo Pereira and Alex Sandro were decisive in defending the team. They practically didn’t allow the opponent to play thanks to their counter-pressing and the above-average ability of the more defensive players to win duels.

Internacional’s sustained buildup always comes from a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation, where the midfield is asymmetrical: Thiago Maia drops to receive the ball behind the first pressing line, Alan Rodríguez pushes higher on the right, and Alan Patrick, the number ten, operates more advanced, occasionally dropping deeper to help the team progress. Flamengo’s marking option, a risky one, was a 4-1-3-2 shape with man-oriented matchups, placing, among Allan and the forwards, one player against each passing option for goalkeeper Rochet.

If the team tried to play inside through Alan Patrick, Jorginho would hunt him down. If it was through Wesley on the left, Emerson would beat him with strength. On the right, Alex Sandro split his role between stepping inside to press Alan Rodríguez or tracking Tabata. When the first option happened, the team adjusted the back line so that Léo Pereira could cover the left fullback’s forward movement. With this, Filipe Luis strategically exploited the weakness Rochet had been showing in long passes.

The main way to reach the attack, since they had no escape route in their buildup from the back, was direct play. Rochet would take the goal kick straight toward Ricardo Mathías, a young center-forward and academy prospect for Internacional with plenty of technique, explosiveness, and mobility despite standing 1.92m tall. He was able to win some duels, but was left isolated and was beaten by Léo Ortiz or one of the holding midfielders in most long-ball attempts. This scenario also kept Internacional’s brain, Alan Patrick, completely out of the match.

Adjustments improve Inter

While Filipe Luis had to replace Emerson Royal with Uruguayan Varela at right fullback due to physical issues, Roger Machado did not change his lineup despite being behind on the scoreboard. The adjustments were brief, focusing on tactical behaviors and specific positioning changes for two key players in the team’s improvement: Alan Rodríguez and Bruno Tabata.

Defensively, Alan Rodríguez was given more freedom to step forward and press one of the holding midfielders, which helped the team recover possession and have more of the ball. Offensively, especially during buildup, he began to drop deeper more often, creating superiority near Thiago Maia, behind the forwards, and causing uncertainty in the second defensive line. These details were essential for a shift that allowed the team to play short from the back and gain more control of the game.

Bruno Tabata, in turn, was deployed as a right winger but had already expressed to the coach his preference for operating more centrally, and that is exactly what happened. At that point in the match, Roger Machado opted to give Tabata more positional freedom. This meant he no longer stayed wide, creating uncertainty for Alex Sandro and Jorginho as to who should pick him up, offering an inside progression option and even swapping height with Alan Rodríguez.

In attack, Internacional’s usual 4-2-3-1 formation gained a bit more fluidity. With attacks becoming more centralized on the left side, both Alan Patrick and Bruno Tabata, now with more freedom, began to operate inside, generating numerical superiority through overloads in the central lane and drifting toward the left, overloading Flamengo’s holding midfielders. This was enough for a clear improvement in their play, but not enough to level the score.

Filipe Luis noticed Samuel Lino’s sharp drop in physical and technical performance in the second half and switched the tactical setup to a 4-2-3-1 shape, with Carrascal coming in to play as the number ten and Everton Cebolinha (former Benfica) operating as a disruptive left winger. Roger responded by bringing in a more defensive holding midfielder, Richard, in place of Tabata, moving Alan Rodríguez forward into the role of “false right winger.”

As a result, Internacional improved its marking, the game became even more congested than it already was, and the team completely lost momentum. None of the subsequent changes altered the tactical systems or strategies. It can even be interpreted that the result seemed comfortable both for Flamengo, leading 1-0, and for Internacional, who would decide the tie at home in Rio Grande do Sul.

Takeaways

The scenario of teams “respecting each other more than they should” wasn’t present only at the end of the match. From the start, the impression was that neither coach wanted to take too many risks, and few players, aside from the disruptive Samuel Lino, wanted to attempt anything that exposed them too much. As mentioned, the 1-0 scoreline seemed only the beginning of a tie that would not last 180 minutes, but at least 270.

This is because the next round of the Brasileirão will feature another matchup between these teams at Beira-Rio, Internacional’s stadium. What happens in that game in another competition could also have an impact on the return leg of the Libertadores, next Wednesday (20th), where Flamengo will travel to the opponent’s home with an advantage gained with the “secret” weapon that has guaranteed the most results for Flamengo: the offensive set piece.

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