Rio de Janeiro: Flamengo were left fuming after a controversial penalty saw the heavyweights fall to Vasco da Gama in the semi-finals of the Rio de Janeiro state championship in Brazil on Sunday.
Flamengo’s Wallace was adjudged to have pushed Serginho in the box on the hour mark at the Maracana stadium, allowing Gilberto to score the game’s only goal and Vasco to enter the title-decider against Botafogo.
Botafogo beat Fluminense 2-1 but had to secure their place in the final by winning a tense penalty shoot-out 9-8 after Fluminense won their first leg 2-1 last week.
Both Flamengo and Fluminense have been critical of the Rio football federation and even announced they might form a breakaway league in 2016.
Flamengo president Eduardo Bandeira de Mello told Globo TV that his team and Fluminense had “suffered considerable losses in the courts and with referees.”
In the Fluminense-Botafogo match it was all square at 8-8 — with two misses for each side — when it came down to the goalkeepers.
Diego Cavalieri blazed his over the bar for Fluminense and then saw Renan, who had given away a penalty in the first half, coolly slot his kick home.
Penalties were also decisive in the Sao Paulo state championship, with goalkeeper Fernando Prass the hero for Palmeiras after saving two spot kicks in the semi-final against Corinthians.
Brazil midfielder Elias spurned his chance to take Corinthians into the final with the last of the regulation 10 kicks and then Prass saved another from Petros.
“I could see he was going to change which side he was going to hit it and so I did too and luckily I managed to stop it,” said Prass. “The game had everything, four goals, shots against the woodwork, some great moves.” The result takes Palmeiras through to the final to meet Santos, who beat Sao Paulo 2-1 in the other semi-final.
In the big Minas Gerais derby, Atletico Mineiro beat Cruzeiro 2-1, with Lucas Pratto netting a brace.
Atletico will meet Caldense in next weekend’s final.
