Botafogo won a thrilling victory over Estudiantes in the Libertadores

In the Group A standings, Estudiantes leads with nine points, while Botafogo is in third place with six points.

In a dramatic match, Botafogo beat Estudiantes 3-2 at Nilton Santos and remained in the Libertadores. Rwan Cruz, Igor Jesus and Artur scored the goals in the victory for Alvinegro. After the match, coach Renato Paiva gave a press conference and explained the two halves of his team on the field. He explained the team’s performance and the departure of Alex Telles.

– I think the first half was perhaps the best since we arrived here. Very complete, both offensively and defensively. Estudiantes couldn’t play, our pressure was suffocating, our style of play could have been a little more in terms of creating finishing situations, but it wasn’t. Even so, we had some very well-planned plays and I remind you that it’s not easy to play against a line of five in defence. At half-time, we showed the players images of when the cross was made, four players were inside the area. I said: don’t give in to the temptation of direct crosses. Look for the backs or gaps in the defensive line. It’s not easy, they played with the qualification at that moment, they played with the pressure of it being a final for us and we kept our composure and didn’t give in to a crossing situation and tried to break through a line of five. I corrected Cuiabano’s positioning, who was too deep in the line and Telles wasn’t in a position to play in a way that would link up and move and make the players in the top line jump – explained Paiva.

Despite the positive result, the Portuguese acknowledged the decline that Alvinegro had during the final stage. In addition, he also made a point of praising the performances of Marlon Freitas and Arthur, two decisive players in the match.

– The second half is a bit of two things, the reaction of the opponent who scores a goal out of nowhere, a penalty out of nowhere and then the fatigue of some players. And you feel that Artur is tired, that Marlon is tired, but then it is Marlon who makes the pass to Artur and it is Artur who scores the third goal. And the coach lives in these uncertainties and that is why it is our life to make decisions and that is why I made the gesture I made to my colleague – said the coach, about having shown the finger to the assistant.

Offensive improvement in recent games

Renato Paiva also commented on the improvement his team has had in its offensive performance. The Alvinegro has scored nine goals in the last three games and, in the coach’s view, this is a result of the game dynamics.

– We have one or two moments when we can train, now we only have a game on Sunday, tomorrow a lot of people will be recovering, possibly the day after tomorrow we will still have some to recover and, possibly, on Saturday we will do some things, but in a very low volume. But what I say, the advantages of positional play are the dynamics it creates, the players just need to understand where they are, who they are following and start from a type of individual dynamic to pass and unmark, to make direct combinations, to one attacking deep, another playing in support, outside-inside, inside-outside. These are dynamics of their games, I just want them to be together, which didn’t happen in the first half. When Telles received the ball, he had to cross or play it back because Cuiabano and Arthur were missing to be able to move the line of five (of Estudiantes’ defense).