A bittersweet victory. On Saturday evening, Flamengo carried out a great operation by temporarily taking 2nd place in the Brazilian championship from Gremio thanks to their 2-1 victory on the lawn of Atlético Mineiro. Despite the success (obtained in the 87th), the meeting was marked by an unexpected event. Jorge Sampaoli’s physical trainer, Pablo Fernandez (Flamengo) punched Brazilian striker Pedro (26) in the face.
Pedro is one of the stars of the squad (4 goals in 13 games this season). While he started Saturday’s game on the bench, the latter ended his warm-up shortly before the end of the game seeing that he would not play or play too little. Pedro regretted a lack of consideration from the Flamengo staff. He sat on the bench which infuriated Pablo Fernandez who later punched him in the face in the locker room, even injuring him in the mouth, after an explanation.
The player decided to file a complaint and the former OM physical trainer had to go to the Belo Horizonte police station. Pedro (6 caps, 1 goal) can count on the support of his teammates, he who is one of the darlings of the supporters.
Close to Sampaoli, Fernandez was also part of the Argentinian staff on the Olympique de Marseille side. It was he who in August 2021 hit a supporter of OGC Nice during the overflows between the Gym and Marseille at the Allianz Riviera.
That evening Dimitri Payet had been the victim of projectiles thrown by Nice supporters causing the postponement of the meeting.