Flamengo vs Botafogo Predictions

Sunday’s Brazilian Serie A derby action sees local rivals Flamengo and Botafogo doing battle at the Maracanã. The hosts arrive as big favourites to win the game and are expected to do exactly that with few issues.

Flamengo come into this game under huge pressure and it’s not one they can afford to lose. The side enraged their fans by crashing out of the Brazilian Cup at the quarter final stage and have now also put themselves in big trouble in the Copa Libertadores, losing a round of 16 first leg clash to Emelec 2-0 in midweek; a result that saw supporters confront the team’s players at the airport prior to flying home.

As such, Jorge Jesus’ reign hasn’t had the positive start that most anticipated and the team isn’t really functioning as a unit, despite it’s huge and expensively constructed individual quality in all areas. Nonetheless, still 3rd in the table, all hope isn’t lost for Mengao, despite a rocky patch and those taking to the pitch will be looking to prolong an impressive winning streak of 5 consecutive Serie A home matches.

Meanwhile, Botafogo arrive in even worse shape than Flamengo and also come into this derby match under big pressure. Fans whistled the team off the pitch after a 1-0 Copa Sudamericana defeat at home to Atletico Mineiro in midweek and Fogo’ have now failed to even so much as score a goal in 4 outings; 3 of which they’ve lost.

Still 8th courtesy of a relatively strong start to the season, Botafogo aren’t in a terrible position but need to start turning things around swiftly. They are clearly lacking confidence in attack and that has them coming into this game with their prospects looking extremely bleak, as they are highly unlikely to be able to keep the attacking power of Flamengo at bay either.

Ultimately, this is a game Flamengo need to be winning and with the quality they have, they should be able to. Man for man, they are stronger in all areas of the pitch in all areas and though they haven’t played particularly well in recent outings, they face a Botafogo side that is in an arguably even worse state.

All things considered, backing Flamengo to win the match to nil looks the way to play and is exactly where our money is going at a more than reasonable price. Botafogo have looked completely devoid of attacking ideas for quite some time now and that leads us to believe they could well fall to a 2-0 defeat here.