FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy 2025: Flamengo – Best players, predicted XI + more

We’ve reached Group D in our FIFA Club World Cup 2025 team previews, with Flamengo first up.

From their best Fantasy players to set-piece takers and everything in between, we spotlight the Brazilian giants.

Data in this piece comes from Fbref and WhoScored.

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FLAMENGO: OVERVIEW

Flamengo are currently enjoying the strongest domestic campaign of the four Brazilian representatives at this year’s FIFA Club World Cup.

After coming third in the league last year, behind Botafogo and Palmeiras, the Mengão are sitting top of the 2025 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. They have won seven and lost just one of their 11 matches to date, scoring 24 goals and conceding only four – both division-leading tallies – in the process.

The team, who are coached by ex-Chelsea, Atlético Madrid and Flamengo left-back Filipe Luís and hail from the iconic Maracanã in Rio, are also through to the knock-out stage of this year’s Copa Libertadores, South America’s premier club tournament.

Their place at this tournament was actually booked some time ago, by virtue of them winning the 2022 Copa Libertadores.

Flamengo’s previous best finish at the FIFA Club World Cup was as runners-up in 2019, when they lost to Liverpool in extra time on their maiden appearance at the tournament.

While the bookies only make them 10th favourites for this summer’s edition, the odds-setters nevertheless fancy the Brazilian giants to fare best out of all the clubs outside of Europe.

The draw has been relatively kind, too, with both Flamengo and Chelsea expected to make light work of LAFC and ES Tunis.

Group fixtures

Bookies predictions

	To Qualify	To Win Group
Flamengo	67.3%	27.7%
ES Tunis	10.5%	2.2%
Chelsea	82.5%	57.2%
LAFC	39.7%	12.9%

League Top Scorers

After 11 games played

Giorgian de Arrascaeta ($6.2m, MID) – 9
Pedro ($6.8m, FWD) – 4
Luiz Araújo ($6m, FWD) – 2

League Top Assist-Makers

After 11 games played

Giorgian de Arrascaeta ($6.2m, MID) – 4
Michael ($5m, MID) – 3
Pedro ($6.8m, FWD) – 2
Gerson ($6.0m, MID) – 2
Guillermo Varela ($4.9m, DEF) – 2

Set-piece takers

PENALTIES

Giorgian de Arrascaeta ($6.2m, MID)
Pedro ($6.8m, FWD)
Bruno Henrique ($6.1m, FWD)

Three players have taken a penalty this season for Flamengo, and only one of them has missed. That was Pedro, who, interestingly, then stepped up to take another 10 days later and scored it.

A month later, on May 25, de Arrascaeta took the club’s most recent penalty and scored it. The Uruguayan-Italian attacking midfielder is undoubtedly Flamengo’s most in-form man, so is perhaps the likeliest player to step up if his team is awarded a spot-kick in this tournament.

However, it’s worth noting that neither player was on the pitch when the other took their most recent attempt.

CORNERS AND INDIRECT FREE-KICKS

Giorgian de Arrascaeta ($6.2m, MID)
Nicolás de la Cruz ($5.7m, MID)
Luiz Araújo ($6.0m, FWD)
Gerson ($6.0m, MID)

Corners are another relative conundrum. De Arrascaeta has attempted the most, with 20, but both Luiz Araújo and Nicolás de la Cruz – who has scored a direct free-kick in each of his last three seasons – are also in double digits and Araújo has had the most successful attempts (7), according to WhoScored.

Then there’s Gerson, who has managed the second-most successful corners (5) and also taken the second-most free-kicks of the team’s midfielders and forwards, behind de la Cruz.

TOP FANTASY PICKS

GIORGIAN DE ARRASCAETA ($6.2M) – MID

Capable of playing in attacking midfield or on the left wing, de Arrascaeta is a stand-out Fantasy option from Flamengo’s ranks.

The 31-year-old Uruguay international’s team-leading tallies for goals (nine) and assists (four) this season – from only nine league appearances – speak for themselves, with likely spot-kick duties and a share of other set-pieces another bonus in his favour.

Flamengo’s no. 10 has been at the club since January 2019 and was the first non-Brazilian in its history to reach 100 appearances in Série A. He’s scored plenty of important goals along the way as well as being the top assist provider in the league twice, plus the Copa Libertadores once.

LUIZ ARAUJO ($6.0M) – FWD

Araújo, meanwhile, trails only de Arrascaeta for total attacking returns (12, seven goals and five assists) in all competitions this season.

He is a relatively budget-friendly alternative for those in need of a forward.

That the right winger could have a share of set-pieces is also nice, but if you’ve got a little extra cash to spend, then centre forward Pedro ($6.8m) could be worth a look. Pedro has the most goal involvements (six) in Série A behind de Arrascaeta as well as eight goals or assists in all competitions from just under 600 minutes of action, after he missed the start of the league campaign while recovering from a cruciate ligament tear.

It means Pedro has currently got a better rate of returns than anyone on the roster, including de Arrascaeta. Beware of shared gametime with Bruno Henrique ($6.1m), though.

LEO ORTIZ ($4.9m) – DEF

Or, if it’s a defender you’re in search of (which might not be a bad shout given Flamengo have kept eight clean sheets in 11 league games so far), then Léo Ortiz ($4.9m) could be your guy.

The Brazilian centre-back trails only his goalkeeper Agustín Rossi ($5.3m) and fellow centre-back Léo Pereira ($4.9m) for league minutes so far in 2025 and has registered a team-high five shots from set pieces.

He has also delivered four attacking returns (three goals, one assist) so far in all competitions.

Ortiz comes in slightly cheaper than shot-stopper Rossi and ever-present left-back Alex Sandro ($5.1m).

Elsewhere in the backline, Guillermo Varela ($4.9m) may have caught some eyes given he has registered three assists and a goal between his last two matches (in the league and Copa do Brasil). However, the 32-year-old Uruguayan right-back has been sharing minutes with 21-year-old Wesley ($4.6m), and it’s a little unclear who the manager’s favourite is on that flank right now.

EARLY PREDICTED XI

FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy 2025: Flamengo – Best players, predicted XI + more 3

Wesley began the Série A season as Luis’s first-choice right-back, before being benched (twice) or suspended in three of the last four matches. During that time, however, he has also started four straight Copa Libertadores outings.

The rest of the backline and defence should be more settled.

Luis has tended to favour a 4-2-3-1 formation so far. Henrique has been favoured more often in the league, with seven starts to Pedro’s three, though it’s worth reiterating that the latter player was forcibly absent through injury for the first three matches of the campaign and has started three times in eight since then, scoring four goals and assisting two to Henrique’s zero.

De Arrascaeta is at least a near certainty in the No. 10 role behind the chosen striker, while Luiz Araújo should start on the right based on current form, having done so in three straight league matches and then scored a brace in his last outing.

On the left of the attack should be Everton ($6.5m), who is classed as a forward in-game, based on recent minutes, while we’d expect club captain Gerson ($6.0m) to be one of the two holding midfielders. Also lining up there for the last three league fixtures has been Evertton Araújo ($4.4m), given previous regular De la Cruz’s absence with a knee injury, but Erick Pulgar ($5.7m) is another option.