The Guarani Paraguayan, directed by the Spanish coach Fernando Jubero, scored in the last minute and defeated at home by 0-1 to America Brazilian, who made his absolute debut in the Copa Libertadores and now moves away from Phase 3 of the South American tournament. The team from Belo Horizonte, which with 109 years of history is participating in the Libertadores for the first time, received Josué Colman’s goal at the end of the game and will now play their classification in the Paraguayan capital.
After some timid attempts to attack by the homeowners, the first goal play had two Colombians as protagonists in the 9th minute: for the locals, the creative Juan Pablo ‘El Indio’ Ramírez in a free kick well defended by his compatriot Devis Vásquez, the visiting goalkeeper. Then it was Mateusinho, Patric, striker Wéllington Paulista and Ramírez himself who eagerly sought to open the scoring for ‘Coelho’ (rabbit) in a first half that ended with a blank scoreline.
In the second half the local team, led by Marquinhos Santos, did not let up and Felipe Azevedo, Lucas Kal, Juninho and Wéllington Paulista always prowled Vásquez’s goal. Reserves Everaldo and Pedrinho came off the bench also hungry for a goal, but the host team got the scare with a shot off the crossbar in the 73rd minute by Marcelo González that compromised local goalkeeper Jailson.
When everything seemed to be going 0-0, the visitor, in another of his few attacking moves, managed to turn into a counterattack well capitalized by Colman, which deflected defender Iago Maidana a bit and confused Jailson. The second leg will be played on March 2 at the Defensores del Chaco stadium, in Asunción.