By Robbie Blakeley, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Cristovão Borges has been unveiled as the new coach of Fluminense after Renato Gaúcho was sacked yesterday morning. The former Vasco and Bahia manager will be presented to the press at 1:30 PM today.
It took just hours after the dismissal of Renato to bring in the former Flu midfielder. Borges has signed a contract valid until the end of the year.
When in charge at Vasco, he led the club to runner-up in the 2011 Campeonato Brasileiro and the quarter-finals of the 2012 Copa Libertadores, where they were eliminated by eventual champions Corinthians.
Unimed president Celso Barros, Fluminense’s main sponsor, was against the dismissal of Gaúcho and will be putting no funds forward towards Borges’ salary. However, Fluminense club president Peter Siemsen acted after the team’s poor showing in this year’s Campeonato Carioca.
Despite holding the advantage, Flu were knocked out at the semi-final stage of the tournament this past weekend by Vasco da Gama. In addition, several senior players had voiced dissatisfaction with the former coach’s training methods.
Siemsen himself was also believed to have been irritated by complaints Renato made to the press about the state of the Fluminense squad. He requested reinforcements on several occasions and criticized the players in the media after their defeat to Vasco last Sunday.
Cristovão’s first game in charge of Fluminense will be in the Copa do Brasil first round second leg against Ceará club Horizonte on Thursday, April 10th, at the Maracanã. Flu trail 3-1 from the first leg.
Read more (in Portuguese).
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