“I admit that I left”; After the “heavy” controversy at Flamengo, Paulo Sousa presented his latest version of the Diego Alves case

flamingo

This Saturday (21), Flamengo beat Goiás 1-0, in the Maracana, in the seventh round of the Brazilian Championship. Despite the victory, the atmosphere with the crowd was still not the best, with the nation booing the red and black team and chanting “Mr., Mr.”, referring to Jorge Jesus. In addition, Paulo Sousa held a post-match press conference along with Marcos Braz, Vice President of Football, and Bruno Spindel, Executive Director of Football for Florida, to talk about the Diego Alves case.

The controversy began when Santos, Flamengo’s goalkeeper in the cups, was injured in early May, opening a loophole for the veteran to use again in the red and black goal, something that has not happened much since the Portuguese coach’s arrival. Despite Hugo’s recent failures, Paulo Sousa did not give Diego Alves another chance, who complained of pain after the Copa del Rey, and continued to recover until the last Libertadores game.

Since Diego Alves was not on the list to face Universidad Católica-Che last Tuesday (17), Paulo Sousa was asked about the reason for the goalkeeper’s absence, explaining that the veteran was not training and could not fully recover after “a meeting that was with Bruno Spindel”. The Portuguese coach’s speech was not very good internally, and last Thursday (19) the board of directors, technical committee and team leaders met to discuss what happened.

In a post-match press conference on Sunday (21), Paulo Sousa presented his latest version of the controversy involving Diego Alves, assuming part of the blame for a communication error that also includes a physical therapist and coach from his committee: “I admit I left a free sheet for you to expect, it wasn’t Diego was available and Bruno was not. What happened was a lack of communication between my physical therapist and my coach.”

Paulo Sousa also confirmed that everything had been resolved internally, as well as clarifying that the goalkeeper was still in the medical department at Flamengo: “And there was a lack of communication between me and Bruno (Spindel), which eventually made me think of something. We talked , we explained, as adults, as people who wish the flamingo well. Today he (Diego Alves) is still in the medical department to be strong enough. He concluded that there are operations to be performed.”