River Plate were winning 1-0 and the Copa Libertadores final seemed to be drifting away from Flamengo. River had defended heroically for 88 minutes and it was difficult to see where a goal would come from for the Brazilian side. Did Rodrigo Caio’s belief ever wane? “No, no,” he says emphatically. “I believed we would equalise. There were five minutes and I thought: ‘We can get a goal, we can do it. How many games have we failed to score in this year? Not many.’ That made me believe. The ball will drop our way. We’re going to equalise, we’ll go to extra time. We’ll win in extra time, on penalties, I don’t know.”

As it turns out, they did not need extra time or penalties. Gabriel Barbosa poked in an equaliser in the 89th minute and blasted home the winner in the 92nd minute. It was his 43rd goal of the season and the goal Flamengo fans had been waiting for 38 years to see. For the first time since Zico lifted the trophy in 1981, Flamengo were continental champions.

That unshakable belief in their own ability is perhaps the hallmark of this Flamengo side, who were crowned league champions in Brazil the day after they won the Copa Libertadores. Their confidence will be put to the test this week in unfamiliar surroundings. They play Al-Hilal in the Club World Cup semi-final on Tuesday, hoping to secure a potential final against European champions Liverpool.

The Brazil international is certain about one thing. “We won’t change our way of playing at any time,” he says. “We have the quality to get the ball on the floor and play our football, to play the Flamengo way: possession, rapid transitions, strong marking, positioning, everybody close together.” That style has been moulded by Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, who Rodrigo classifies as “the best I have ever worked with.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rodrigo Caio and Gabriel Barbosa celebrate with the league title in Brazil. Photograph: Wagner Meier/Getty Images

“The Mister”, as he is known by Flamengo fans, arrived in Rio in June and has had an incredible impact in just six months in charge. “Tactically, he is the coach who has demanded most from me,” says centre-back Caio. “Sometimes it grates, because there are a lot of details, but a time comes when you start to enjoy it. It’s pleasurable when you are doing the right things. He’s a stickler for detail. Extreme. It’s one step this way or that. And the demands are the same for everyone.”

Even for players such as Filipe Luís and Rafinha, who played at the highest level for years and have been to Champions League finals? “For Filipe, for Pablo, for me, for Rafinha. It’s the same for the youngest and the most experienced. If he needs to be harsh, he’ll be harsh. It shows he has the same respect for everyone. A lot of people think that Brazilian players don’t really like to train. It’s prejudice. But everybody who lives alongside these players will see it in another way.”

As well as improving Flamengo, Jorge Jesus has had wider influence in Brazil. “His arrival was important,” says Caio. “I’m sure the league will be different because of it. The level will be higher. The style will be different. The intensity will be different. The demands will change. Because, if we manage to keep the players and coach, Flamengo’s level will be a lot higher and the others will have to step up for us to have a strong league. Who benefits from that? Brazilian football.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rodrigo Caio in the Flamengo training base in Rio. Photograph: Josh Law

Given the length of away trips, number of games and state of pitches, many Brazilian clubs resort to playing reactive football, sitting deep and waiting for opponents to make mistakes. When faced with tough ties in the Copa Libertadores, that negativity is often exacerbated, as Caio explains: “A lot of Brazilian and even South American teams think: ‘Let’s shut up shop – a ball might fall our way.’ Flamengo came in with another philosophy: ‘Let’s play football. We are superior if we play it on the floor.’”

It’s a style that suits him. As a youngster, Caio alternated between positions, sometimes playing as an attacking midfielder. But at one trial his dad noticed there were far more boys competing for places in the forward positions. “My dad turned to me and said: ‘From today, you are a centre-back.’ Then I started taking pleasure from playing there. I always saw myself as a different centre-back. If I play as a midfielder, I thought I was a common player. I always liked heading, timed my jump well. I wasn’t so tall, but I was always quicker, more agile. I thought those characteristics would favour me.”

Caio has been an ideal fit for Jesus’s passing style and high line. The tactic of leaving defenders one-on-one with strikers is risky, but again that confidence comes through. “We put two on the last line and trust the defender to win. I think we’ve won 99% of them. Risk is part of our game. [Jesus] likes it like that.”

On a slow, dry pitch in that Libertadores final, River were almost able to neutralise them through “aggressive marking, always aiming for the ball and the man”, explains Caio – but Flamengo eventually found a way through. When Barbosa scored that second goal, a few footballers on Merseyside were clenching their fists in celebration. “I’ve spoken to Fabinho quite a bit, Firmino too. They said they were cheering for us to get to the [Club World Cup] final to meet them. It would be cool. Fabinho and I were in the U-23 national team together a lot. He’s a great guy. Unfortunately he’s injured.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rodrigo Caio celebrates after Flamengo’s victory over Grêmio at the Maracanã in October. Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

Rodrigo, who was a central part of the Brazil team that won Olympic gold in Rio in 2016, says facing Liverpool will be “difficult”. But he is familiar with how they play. “I watch almost every Premier League game. I don’t see myself playing there, but I like it a lot. The intensity, the shape of the games. Like Brazilian football, it’s not a league that has only has two teams. There are six or seven that are strong.” To emphasise his point, he speaks of his admiration for the work Brendan Rodgers is doing at Leicester.

Earlier this year, Jesus caused commotion in the Brazilian media when he said this Flamengo squad would finish in the top six in England. But his defender agrees with the evaluation “In the top six, yes. It’s difficult to say. We’d play there, with another climate, different pitches. What if [Liverpool] came here, how would that be? With the pitches, the travel, all these games. Would they be up to it? Liverpool are similar to us in that they don’t rest players. It’s not a vast squad. It’s hard to say, but I believe we would.”

At 26, coming into his peak and looking to cement his place in the Brazil squad before the Copa América in 2020 and World Cup in 2022, does he think of following compatriots such as Fabinho, Allison and Firmino across the Atlantic? “I still have that dream,” he says. “But it’s not that dream that consumes me.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Caio lines up alongside his Brazil teammates at the Olympics in Rio in 2016. Photograph: Buda Mendes/Getty Images

When Rodrigo was playing for São Paulo, the team where he made his name, the desire to play in Europe had a deep psychological impact. “I was thinking: ‘I want to, I want to. I have to go.’ A lot of times you want to force it, thinking that it has to happen. It has a negative impact. It ended up affecting me a lot. I made a promise to myself that I would never let that happen again. On the contrary, I would focus on my day-to-day, what I had to do, always thinking about growing and improving.”

The December day when the rising sons of Flamengo outshone Liverpool Read more

He believes that Flamengo have now reached a level where they can compete for players with big European clubs. A good showing at the Club World Cup would only raise their profile further. Flamengo overcame Asian champions Al-Hilal 3-1 on Tuesday – the team Jesus was managing before he moved to Brazil in January – and now they can contemplate a date with Liverpool.

For them, it is the chance to recreate the club’s greatest moment, when they beat Bob Paisley’s team 3-0 with a devastating attacking display to win the Intercontinental Cup in 1981. Caio sits back in his chair, the weight of history coming down on his shoulders: “It’s like we’re going back in time, playing a final of the Mundial against Liverpool. Obviously we need to get through the semi-final. We have to go game by game. But it would be so special. We can get to a final against Liverpool, European champions and relive that story. And we can write our own story too.

“It’s a unique opportunity, one that we wait for in our career. The most important thing is that we are prepared for this moment. Really prepared. We want to write another chapter in this beautiful story of 2019. This is our year.”

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