Flamengo fall to Independiente del Valle in Recopa Sudamericana

Flamengo lost the Recopa Sudamericana title after being defeated 5-4 in the penalty shootout by Independiente Del Valle (Ecuador), on Tuesday night (Feb. 28) at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

The Recopa Sudamericana is played between the Copa Libertadores champions and the Copa Sudamericana winners.

With this setback, Flamengo miss its third opportunity to win a title in 2023, after the frustrating campaigns in the Brazilian Supercup (where they were defeated by Palmeiras) and in the Club World Cup (a tournament in which they finished third).

The Brazilian team won the match 1-0 with a goal by Gabriel Barbosa in the 50th minute of the second half and evened the score with Del Valle, which won the first leg by the same score last week in Quito (Ecuador). With this result, there was a overtime, but the score remained the same until the end of the game.

The title was then disputed in the penalty shootout. Del Valle's goalkeeper Ramírez shone, saving Arrascaeta's penalty, while David Luiz, Everton Cebolinha, Gerson, and Gabriel Barbosa did not fail. For the Ecuadorian team, Faravelli, Hoyos, Previtali, Schunke and Landázuri beat goalkeeper Santos to secure the title.