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Champions Flamengo begin 2020 campaign with home loss

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Spanish coach Domenec Torrent got off to a losing start when his new club Flamengo were beaten 1-0 by Atletico Mineiro in the Brazilian league on Sunday.

Torrent, who joined the Serie A champions last month after a stint in charge of New York City FC and a decade as assistant to Pep Guardiola, saw his side lose to an unfortunate own goal by Filipe Luis on the opening weekend of the new season.

Midway through the first half Guilherme Arana crossed from the left and the ball struck the leg of the former Atletico Madrid and Chelsea full back and flew into the net.

The three points were an unhappy start for Torrent but perfect for Jorge Sampaoli, the Argentine who took over at Atletico earlier this year.

Flamengo won the Rio de Janeiro state championship in July under Jorge Jesus, who left soon after to return to Benfica.

(Reporting by Andrew Downie, editing by Pritha Sarkar)