Flamengo Faces Santos Amid Injuries, Looks to Stay Top of Brasileirão

Flamengo heads to Vila Belmiro on Wednesday to face Santos in Matchday 14 of the 2025 Brasileirão, aiming to preserve its place at the top of the table. As reported by UOL, the team will be missing key players, including forward Pedro, who was left out of the squad for a second straight game due to underwhelming performances in training.

Head coach Filipe Luís was blunt in his assessment: “Pedro is last in every GPS metric we track. He’s not ready to perform.” The squad will also be without Alex Sandro, Ayrton Lucas, Michael, and Erick Pulgar, the latter still recovering from surgery in Chile.

Right-back Varela is expected to fill in on the left flank, while Allan will likely start in midfield even with De La Cruz available. Promising youngster Matheus Gonçalves returns after featuring for the U-20s, and Nigerian striker Shola is also back in the matchday squad.

Flamengo currently sits atop the league with 27 points, level with Cruzeiro but with a game in hand. Bragantino follows closely with 26. With the title race tightening, Flamengo must secure a result against a motivated Santos side to stay in control.