Flamengo lost two players hours before facing Vitória on Sunday at the Maracanã in the Brasileirão. Alex Sandro and Vitão were ruled out of the match after the club reported medical problems that kept both out of the squad.
The timing mattered because the absence came on match day, when the available options are already fixed. For Flamengo, it meant a sudden change in the plans for Flamengo x Vitória, with two new absences just before kickoff.
Alex Sandro had felt pain in his right calf during the week, but an image exam did not show a muscle injury. Even so, he remained in treatment with the medical department and never became available for Sunday’s game. Vitão, by contrast, was diagnosed with a muscle injury in his left thigh after leaving Friday’s training session with pain in the same area.
That left Flamengo dealing with more than one fitness issue at once. Everton Cebolinha was also unavailable because of a flu-like illness, while Luiz Araújo was in the final stage of recovery from a knee injury suffered during the interseason and was already doing field work with physical preparation. The picture was not entirely one-sided, though, because Vitória released a list with the returns of Pochettino and Martínez.
The unresolved question is how long Flamengo will have to do without Alex Sandro and Vitão. What was clear on Sunday was that the club arrived at the Maracanã with a thinner group than expected, and the gap was enough to reshape the matchday picture before the first whistle.
