- The reigning champions and four-time kings of South America remain unbeaten in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: after dominating Group A and eliminating Cruzeiro, they beat Independiente del Valle 3-1 on aggregate and will play the Semifinals against Estudiantes.
- Bruno Henrique and Léo Pereira scored in the 2-0 win in Quito, and at the Maracanã, down to ten men and trailing, a Giorgian De Arrascaeta header sealed the 1-1 that confirmed qualification.
Flamengo press on in their defense of the CONMEBOL Libertadores. After completing the best group-stage campaign, with 16 points out of 18, and eliminating Cruzeiro in the Round of 16, Leonardo Jardim's side beat Independiente del Valle in the quarterfinals and settled among the four best teams on the continent for the second year in a row. The 2025 champions have yet to lose in the current edition and keep the road to a fifth title open.
The tie against the 'Matagigantes' was set up in the first leg. At the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Flamengo won 2-0 with a goal from Bruno Henrique in the 16th minute of the second half, from a Samuel Lino cross, and a Léo Pereira header 14 minutes later, from an Emerson Royal delivery. It was the first away win in the history of meetings between the two sides and ended a run of seven knockout matches without a victory outside Brazil for the 'Mengão'.
The return leg at the Maracanã proved far more uncomfortable than the lead suggested. Djorkaeff Reasco put Independiente del Valle ahead in the 30th minute of the first half, Jorginho was sent off for a second yellow card in the 20th minute of the second half and the visitors had a goal ruled out for offside. Only in the 38th minute of the second half did a long ball from Agustín Rossi sail over the Ecuadorian goalkeeper for Giorgian De Arrascaeta, who had come off the bench, to head in the 1-1 that closed the tie 3-1 on aggregate.
Opta's numbers framed the night. Flamengo reached the Semifinals of the CONMEBOL Libertadores for the eighth time in their history (1981, 1982, 1984, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2025 and 2026), and since 2019 only Palmeiras have more appearances among the final four. Rossi, moreover, became the first goalkeeper to provide an assist in the knockout stages of the tournament since records began (2013), and De Arrascaeta has been directly involved in a goal in the 'Fla''s last three knockout ties in the competition.
The next opponent is a familiar name. Estudiantes, who eliminated Corinthians with a 1-1 draw in La Plata and a 1-0 win in São Paulo, will be the rival in the Semifinals, in a rematch of the 2025 quarterfinals that Flamengo settled on penalties on the way to their fourth crown. The first leg will be played on Thursday, October 15 in La Plata and the second on Thursday, October 22 at the Maracanã, with the Final on November 28 in Montevideo on the horizon. The defense of the crown continues.
Flamengo in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Results and Schedule
Group A – Matchday 1: Cusco FC 0-2 Flamengo (14' ST Bruno Henrique, assist by Ayrton Lucas, and 45+2' ST Giorgian de Arrascaeta)
Group A – Matchday 2: Flamengo 4-1 Independiente Medellín (15' PT Lucas Paquetá, assist by Ayrton Lucas; 45' PT Bruno Henrique, assist by De Arrascaeta; 4' ST De Arrascaeta, assist by Bruno Henrique; and 45+6' ST Pedro, assist by Luiz Araújo / 40' PT Yeison González)
Group A – Matchday 3: Estudiantes 1-1 Flamengo (9' ST Guido Carrillo / 32' PT Luiz Araújo, assist by Bruno Henrique)
Group A – Matchday 4: Independiente Medellín 0-3 Flamengo (match suspended after 5 minutes due to incidents at the Atanasio Girardot and awarded to Flamengo by CONMEBOL)
Group A – Matchday 5: Flamengo 1-0 Estudiantes (20' ST Pedro)
Group A – Matchday 6: Flamengo 3-0 Cusco FC (35' ST Bruno Henrique, assist by Pedro; 39' ST Bruno Henrique; and 45+1' ST Lucas Paquetá, penalty)
Round of 16
First Leg: Cruzeiro 1-1 Flamengo (8' ST Keny Arroyo / 21' ST Lucas Paquetá)
Second Leg: Flamengo 2-1 Cruzeiro (35' PT Giorgian De Arrascaeta, assist by Pedro, and 17' ST Samu Lino, assist by Pedro / 6' ST Lucas Romero)
Quartesfinals
First Leg: First leg: Independiente del Valle 0-2 Flamengo (16' 2H Bruno Henrique -assist by Samuel Lino- and 30' 2H Léo Pereira -assist by Emerson Royal-)
Second Leg: Second leg: Flamengo 1-1 Independiente del Valle (38' 2H Giorgian De Arrascaeta, assist by Agustín Rossi / 30' 1H Djorkaeff Reasco). Flamengo advanced 3-1 on aggregate.
Semifinals
First Leg: First leg: Estudiantes vs. Flamengo - Thursday, October 15, 9:30 PM (local time), stadium to be confirmed, La Plata.
Second Leg: Second leg: Flamengo vs. Estudiantes - Thursday, October 22, 9:30 PM (local time), Estadio Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro.
Flamengo Head Coach in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Leonardo Jardim
The Venezuelan-born Portuguese coach arrived at the 'Mengão' on March 4, 2026, on a contract through the end of 2027, to take over a squad of South American champions after the departure of Filipe Luís. His international résumé includes the 2016-17 Ligue 1 title and a Champions League semifinal with Monaco, as well as earlier spells at Sporting and Olympiacos.
The Round of 16 posed a particular challenge because of his recent past at Cruzeiro, the club he had coached in 2025. Jardim got through that tie after the 1-1 at the Mineirão and the 2-1 win at the Maracanã, and in the quarterfinals his players prevailed over Independiente del Valle away from home in a tie they opened with an emphatic 2-0. In the return leg, the coach held Giorgian De Arrascaeta back for the second half and the Uruguayan scored the goal that sealed qualification. "We took an important step, not a decisive one," he had said after the first leg; the outcome proved him right on both counts.
His team thus reaches the Semifinals still unbeaten in the competition, with eight wins and two draws in ten matches. Jardim will lead the defending champions against Estudiantes, in his first CONMEBOL Libertadores in charge of the club, with the first leg in La Plata on October 15 and the second at the Maracanã a week later.
Full Flamengo Squad for the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores
Goalkeepers: 1. Agustin Rossi - 42. Andrew Da Silva - 49. Francisco Bento - 58. Leonardo Nannetti - 84. Gabriel Werneck.
Defenders: 2. Guillermo Varela - 3. Leonardo Rech - 4. Leonardo Pereira - 13. Danilo Luiz Da Silva - 22. Emerson Leite De Souza - 44. Vitor Da Silva - 61. João De Souza - 66. Gustavo Nunes - 74. Gusttavo De Sousa - 77. Johnny Goes - 87. Daniel Marinho.
Midfielders: 5. Erick Pulgar - 8. Saul Esclapez - 10. Giorgian De Arrascaeta - 15. Jorge Carrascal - 16. Samuel Lino - 18. Diego De La Cruz - 20. Lucas Tolentino Coelho - 21. Jorge Frello - 47. Guilherme Henrique - 50. Juan Sayago - 51. Daniel Sales - 54. Joao Andrade - 56. Pablo Lucio - 64. Wallace De Souza - 72. Lucas Vieira - 75. Luiz Felipe Mariano - 79. Caio Lana - 82. Jheferson Medino - 99. Lorran Pereira.
Forwards: 6. Ayrton Dantas - 7. Luiz De Araujo - 9. Pedro Abreu - 11. Everton Sousa - 19. Gonzalo Plata - 26. Alex Lobo - 27. Bruno Pinto - 39. Josmar Miranda - 52. Evertton Fernandes - 57. Isaac Rodrigues - 59. Alan Santos - 62. Diego Reyes - 69. Luiz Da Silva - 80. João Camargo - 81. Douglas Costa.
Flamengo’s Key Player in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Giorgian de Arrascaeta
Giorgian De Arrascaeta remains the man for the decisive moments of the Flamengo side defending the continental title. After closing the group stage with two goals and one assist and opening the scoring in the 2-1 win over Cruzeiro that secured a place in the quarterfinals, the Uruguayan appeared again in the second leg against Independiente del Valle: he came on in the 14th minute of the second half, with the team trailing and about to be reduced to ten men, and 24 minutes later headed in the 1-1 that brought relief to the entire Maracanã.
According to Opta, De Arrascaeta has been directly involved in a goal in Flamengo's last three knockout ties in the CONMEBOL Libertadores: the goal against the 'Rayo', the goal in the second leg of the Round of 16 against Cruzeiro and the assist in the 1-0 win over Palmeiras in the 2025 Final. He has also passed 100 matches in the tournament, a milestone he reached precisely against his former club, and with the header at the Maracanã he reached 20 goals in the competition. He also maintains a special relationship with the Round of 16: he has scored at that stage in five different editions, a figure that only Juan Román Riquelme surpasses in the history of the tournament.
A South American champion with Flamengo in 2019, 2022 and 2025, he will face the Semifinals against Estudiantes as one of the pieces capable of tipping a tight tie, and with a recent precedent: in the 2025 quarterfinals, Flamengo eliminated the 'Pincha' on penalties on the way to their fourth crown.
Flamengo’s Top Scorer in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Bruno Henrique
Bruno Henrique remains Flamengo's top scorer in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores, now with five goals. To the four he scored in the group stage he added the one that opened the tie against Independiente del Valle in Quito: in the 16th minute of the second half, he finished a Samuel Lino cross first-time and set up the 2-0 in the first leg. According to Opta, it was his fifth goal of the edition, the second-best season of his career in the tournament after the six of 2021.
The 35-year-old forward was Leonardo Jardim's choice for the altitude of Quito and responded with the goal that ended a run of seven knockout matches without a win outside Brazil. At the Maracanã he started again and came off in the 25th minute of the second half, with the tie still open, before De Arrascaeta's decisive header.
A protagonist of the 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2025 campaigns, Bruno Henrique will face the Semifinals against Estudiantes as the defending champions' leading scorer in this edition, with five goals and two assists, and with a new opportunity to extend a story closely tied to the decisive nights of the CONMEBOL Libertadores.
Flamengo’s X-Factor in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores: Agustín Rossi
Agustín Rossi entered the statistics from the least expected place. In the 38th minute of the second half of the return leg against Independiente del Valle, with Flamengo trailing and down to ten men, he launched a long pass that sailed over the Ecuadorian goalkeeper and ended in the Giorgian De Arrascaeta header that sealed the tie. According to Opta, it is the first assist by a goalkeeper in the knockout stages of the CONMEBOL Libertadores since records began, in 2013.
The Argentine, who joined the 'Mengão' in July 2023 from Boca Juniors, was one of the pillars of the 2025 title, with eight clean sheets in twelve matches before the Final and a shutout in the 1-0 win over Palmeiras in Lima. His specialty, until the night at the Maracanã, was penalties: since 2018 he has saved six in CONMEBOL Libertadores shootouts, and only Sergio Romero, with seven, has more in that span.
Two of those saves came precisely against Estudiantes, in the 2025 quarterfinal shootout that Flamengo won 4-2 from the spot. A year later, Rossi meets the 'Pincha', one of his former clubs, again in the Semifinals, with the new credential of assist provider and the old one of shootout specialist.
Flamengo’s History in the CONMEBOL Libertadores
Flamengo are the great name of the tournament's modern era: four-time South American champions, in 1981 with Zico, in 2019 with the epic final in Lima, in 2022 in Guayaquil and in 2025 once again in the Peruvian capital, with Danilo's goal against Palmeiras; they were also finalists in 2021, when they fell to Palmeiras. The 2026 edition finds them in the role they enjoy most: defending champions, owners of the best group-stage campaign and everyone's favorite.
The ties against Cruzeiro and Independiente del Valle confirmed their course. Flamengo have reached the Semifinals for the eighth time in their history and the fifth since 2019: in the previous four they reached the Final, and in three they lifted the trophy. Against Estudiantes they will seek a place in the November 28 decider in Montevideo and a goal Brazilian football has never seen: a fifth Gloria Eterna.
