Fluminense faced Flamengo away from home in the first leg of the final in the Campeonato Carioca (state championships). The hosts put high pressure on Fluminense and were looking to score an early goal, dominating possession and trying to create many chances through the centre of the pitch. However, they failed to do so. In the second half, Flamengo created their first big chances but a few of them were missed. As always, if you don’t score your chances, the opponent will most likely score at the end of the game and this is exactly what happened. The experienced German Cano scored twice and won the match for Fluminense.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Calegari
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 27/02/2002
- Club: Fluminense
- Career: Fluminense
- Position: Right-Back
- Secondary position: Defensive Midfield
- Preferred foot: Right
Calegari played as a right-back for Fluminense in the away match against Flamengo. His main focus was defending in this match, as Flamengo put the pressure on Fluminense and the visitors failed to play out of pressure that often. The right-back liked to step out of the defensive line and was aggressive in the duels. He made sure that his opponent could not turn away from him quickly and always kept his opponent in front of him. Calegari did well to force his opponent backwards, especially far from his own goal. Most of his duels far from his own goal were with the experienced Filipe Luis. Even though Flamengo was attacking most of the time, Calegari did not get into many 1v1 duels on the wing. The Brazilian right-back always did well to force his opponent out wide and sometimes managed to block his opponent’s crosses.
He positions himself well when dealing with crosses, but opponents could exploit his weakness in aerial duels as he is not that tall and does not have a great leap. The Brazilian also sometimes did not track back quickly enough and failed to transition from attacking to defending. However, it must be said that his position was often covered by a teammate. This means that it could have been a tactical instruction. From a moment in which he transitioned from defending to attacking came the second Fluminense goal. Calegari carried the ball forward, momentarily lost it, but received the ball again and was in a 2v1 duel with David Luiz. The right-back had much time on the ball and played a perfect pass to German Cano, who had a lot of time and space in the box.
Calegari had great receiving skills in the match against Flamengo. He sometimes received tough aerial balls to control but succeeded in doing so. The Brazilian has good ball control and technique in general, as his passing technique seemed good, too. However, he did not see much of the ball in this match and I would have to watch more of him to determine his ability in possession. The reasoning behind this was that Calegari often had to position himself as a winger, but Fluminense often failed to progress the ball into the final third as they were wasteful in possession. Standing at 171cm with a muscular build, he seemed to generate a lot of power from his body in physical ground duels. Calegari showed in this match that he has explosive acceleration and that he is capable of maintaining his speed over longer distances too. The right-back is agile and changes directions quickly when sprinting. Calegari is capable of breezing past opponents at full speed.
Rating – A2
I do not think that this match gave a perfect view of Calegari’s ability, but his defending was good in this match and I am looking forward to seeing what he brings in a match where Fluminense are the better side. His underlying stats are quite bad, but I liked what I saw from this match and I am looking forward to watching more of him.