- RIO DE JANEIRO, March 3– Flamengo will field a team that is barely recognizable from the side that won last year’s Copa Libertadores when they begin their title defense on Colombia’s Caribbean coast on Wednesday. Absent from the Brazilian side’s matchday squad against Junior Barranquilla will be veteran right-back Rafinha, center-half Rodrigo Caio, forward Bruno Henrique and midfielder Willian Arao. Rafinha, Caio and Henrique are sidelined with respective hamstring, adductor and knee injuries while Arao is suspended. Also missing from the team that beat River Plate 2-1 in last year’s final is Spanish central defender Pablo Mari, who was signed on loan by Arsenal in January. “We are the champions and we have to defend our title,” Flamengo head coach Jorge Jesus told reporters when asked about the challenge of beginning the competition without several established stars. “First we have to try to make it to the knockout stage and then we can think about the final. It’s one of our main objectives this year. It’s going to be very difficult but we are ready for the difficulties.” Junior Barranquilla manager Julio Comesana will have a full squad to choose from for the Group A fixture at Estadio Metropolitano. Despite Flamengo’s status as a regional giant, Comesana and his players have been told by Junior’s owner that anything less than a victory on Wednesday will be unacceptable. “We demand that the coach and the players beat Flamengo,” Fuad Char, a former Colombian senator who has been Junior’s majority shareholder since 1972, said at a press conference in January. “I dream of winning the Copa Libertadores. This 2020 team is the most expensive we’ve had in our entire history and that gives us hope. Junior is the pride of Barranquilla … and the entire Caribbean region.” In other opening-week fixtures, six-time Libertadores champions Boca Juniors will visit Caracas FC. Xinhua.
Flamengo launch title defense without key names.
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