“It’s hard to find words, since we were champions (of South America) the team dreamed of this moment and we didn’t manage to reach the goal,” Flamengo captain Everton Ribeiro said on Tuesday after losing 3-2 to Al Hilal in the semifinals of the Club World Cup.
Flamengo from Brazil, eliminated from the Club World Cup: lost 3-2 against DT Ramón Díaz’s Al Hilal
With a double penalty from Salem Al-Dawsari (4 and 45+9) and a goal from Argentina’s Luciano Vietto (70), the Asian champion beat Flamengo in which Pedro scored another double (20 and 90+1).
In addition to the two goals from the fateful spot, Flamengo suffered Gerson’s expulsion in the play of the second penalty, so they played the entire second half with ten players.
Flamengo sanctioned Arturo Vidal for reckless comment before the Club World Cup
“Al Hilal managed to neutralize our game and in two plays inside the area we ended up conceding goals, suffering a sending off that complicated everything,” Everton explained.
“It was a very doubtful arbitration, we approached him to talk about normal things about the game and he admonished us, it was like that with me,” added striker Gabriel Barbosa.
Al Hilal will play the final in Rabat on Saturday against the winner of the duel between Real Madrid and Al Ahly.
“We were not able to neutralize them, reverse the result. Now we have to raise our heads, we know that it will be a difficult moment, that they will criticize us, but it is one more challenge to overcome. We can only get out of this moment by working, it’s a very bad start to the year”, added the midfielder.
“We have to work harder, evolve to reach our best level and look for titles”, he completed.
“Now we have to suffer with this defeat, tomorrow we have to raise our heads and work to improve. Defeat hurts a lot, but we came here with great pride to represent Flamengo and we have one more game (match for third place), we defend the biggest team in Brazil”, he concluded. gabigol. (D)
Source: Eluniverso

Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.