Flamengo vs. Cruz Azul: history, refereeing, and more information about the Intercontinental Cup debut

Your people are asking for the world again! Flamengo debuts this Wednesday (10) in the Intercontinental Cup against Cruz Azul-MEX, at 14 pm (Brasília time), at the Ahmad bin Ali stadium, in Doha, Qatar. The game is for the Derby of the Americas trophy and qualification to face Piramyds-EGI in the competition's semi-final. 

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On the match venue, coach Filipe Luís gave a press conference this Tuesday (9) and praised the Mexican team quite a bit. 

“Cruz Azul is a very competitive and very well-coached team. The Mexican league is very competitive, hard-fought, with a great deal of financial power. They are a team with good players, with a lot of quality, and very physically strong. They defend very aggressively, press a lot, and always try to be the protagonists of the game. A team that tries to steal the ball and attack as much as possible. We think about football in the same way, we always try to press and control the game, so it will be a very competitive match,” said the Flamengo coach. 

Retrospect

Flamengo and Cruz Azul have only faced each other three times in history, with two wins for the Mexican team and one draw.

- Cruz Azul 2x2 Flamengo, Juarez Tournament 1985 (Cruz Azul 9x8 on penalties), Flamengo's goals were scored by Gilmar Popoca and Chiquinho.

- Cruz Azul 2x0 Flamengo, Rosa de Ouro Quadrangular Tournament 1985.

Cruz Azul 1-0 Flamengo, Azteca Tournament 1987.

Arbitration

Referee: Glenn Nyberg (SWE) 

Assistants: Mahbod Beigi (SUE) and Andreas Söderkvis (SUE)

VAR: Fedayi San (SUI).