Diego Cavalieri

Fluminense improved a lot in the 2014 Brazilian Serie A season, but it was still not enough to secure them a place in the2015 Copa Libertadores.

The club finished just above the relegation zone in 2013, but the season that just concluded was mightily impressive considering that they almost managed to finish in the third spot.Internacional, São Paulo, and Cruzeiro were the teams who will be playing in theCopa Libertadores without having to involve any qualifying matches whereas Corinthians will play a qualifying match in order to reach the competition proper.

Corinthians finished level on points with third placedInternacional. They were a whopping eight points above Fluminense, who ended up grabbing the sixth spot. Even though the team has to contend with the disappointment of missing out on theCopa Libertadores spot, goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri says that it is not the end of the world. He looks at the positives, which included taking 61 points from the 38 game season. One of the reasons for missing out on the third spot was the poor form in the final five matches of the season. Fluminense managed only two wins from the final five matches and this included the 2-1 defeat against Cruzeiro in the final game of the season.

“Everyone has problems. But for all that happened last year, we had an evolution. In recent years, our team was champion twice. The fan will want to remain always so. We entered the championship with many external inquiries and we the answer on the pitch. Of course it gets a bitter taste because we have advanced a little more. Our room was always the same. We have a very large union. We went through a lot together. Good and bad moments, but the weather was always good, because it created a strong bond,” said Cavalieri.