体坛英语新闻：Flamengo sack murder-suspect goalkeeper Bruno

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The president of the Flamengo athletic club, Patricia Amorim decided on Saturday to officially ban goalie Bruno from the soccer team.

The player is the prime suspect in the kidnapping and murdering of his ex-girlfriend and mother of his 5-month-old baby, Eliza Samudio.

"Everything that Bruno did while he played for Flamengo will not be erased. However, regardless if he is innocent or not, he will never return to wear a Flamengo jersey due to the negative exposure that he brought to the team and the institution," affirmed Amorim.

Bruno is currently in a maximum security prison near the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. He and six others are preventatively being held for questioning in the gruesome homicide of Samudio. The player's under-age cousin reported to police that Eliza was strangled, cut into pieces and fed to nine rottweilers.

Despite the player's alleged involvement in the homicide, fans of Flamengo have not given up on the star goalkeeper. During the team's match against Botafogo on July 14, fans defended the keeper when Botafogo's fan-group chanted cheers against Bruno.