This Thursday, March 5th, Leonardo Jardim was “honored” to be the new coach of Flamengo’s football team, the sixth Portuguese coach in the club’s history, and named the Brazilian emblem as the “greatest in the Americas”.
“I feel very honored to coach Flamengo, the greatest in the Americas. It is a great prestige and I hope it is time to honor this shirt. The objective is to win, bring trophies and present football that pleases our fans”, said Leonardo Jardim.
The Madeiran coach, who was speaking at the press conference and signed a contract until December 2027, admitted that he aims to remain in Rio de Janeiro for several years, although continuity at the club is always dependent on results.
“This is a project that lives on victories and only victories can extend the time I will spend. The quality of the squad is very high. We have to take advantage of this amount of quality”, said the 51-year-old coach.
Jardim confessed that he spoke with Filipe Luís, his predecessor in the position, a coach with whom he has an “excellent relationship” and said that he had already been close to signing for Flamengo in the past.
“In 2019, Jorge Jesus gave my name when he left Flamengo, but things ended up not happening. In December of last year, at a time when Filipe Luís’ continuity was not yet certain, there were also conversations, but, at the time, I had a family health issue and that was it,” he said.
Assuming himself as a “passionate about Brazilian football” and “better adapted” to the country since arriving at Cruzeiro last year, Jardim makes his debut for Flamengo on Sunday and then in the Carioca final against the eternal and biggest rival Fluminense.
“It’s a good debut game. An exciting game between rivals. We want to be dominant and win. The objective can only be champion”, he concluded.
Flamengo announced on Tuesday the signing of Leonardo Jardim after Filipe Luís was fired on Monday night.
The Portuguese coach, who won the French championship with Monaco and the Asian title with Al Hilal, is back in Brazil about three months after leaving Cruzeiro, from Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais.
At the helm of the Minas Gerais team, Jardim, 51, reached third place in the Brazilian championship and led the club to the semi-finals of the Brazilian Cup, guaranteeing a direct place in the Libertadores — the main continental club competition in South America — last season.
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