Aucas beat Flamengo 2-1, the same result as at Cerro Porteño-Barcelona
Atlético Nacional defeated Patronato 1-2 and Fluminense beat Sporting Cristal 1-3
He aucasdirected by the Venezuelan coach César Farías, had a dream debut on Wednesday in the Copa Libertadores by winning by 2-1 to the flamenco, current champion of the tournament, to which he came back in his first game in history in the international tournament. In his first appearance in the Libertadores, the Ecuadorian champion was reunited with his best version that led him to win the Ecuadorian league last year, and warned Argentine Racing and Chilean Ñublense, the other two members of group A, that the Gonzalo Plaza Ripalda stadium, in Quito, will be a place to score. The feat of Aucas, which will go down in the book of the great nights of this historic Quito club, was the work of Erick Castillo, scorer of the club’s first goal in the Libertadores, and Roberto Ordóñez, who with their goals traced back Matheus’ initial goal France for the visiting team.
The defensive scheme proposed by Farías meant that Aucas kept Flamengo at bay for almost the entire first half, in which the Brazilians had overwhelming possession of the ball, over 70%, but hardly creating any danger in the rival box. The rain that began to fall from minute 30 predicted an even thicker game, but then the youngster appeared Matheus France to put the cariocas ahead. With a great individual move in which he dribbled past two defenders, the midfielder was planted in the heart of the area and beat the Argentine nationalized Ecuadorian goalkeeper Hernán Galíndez, in the 40th minute.
Until that moment, Mengao had only had one scoring chance at the feet of striker Gabriel Barbosa ‘Gabigol’, who got a ball at his feet near the penalty spot, but his shot came out very focused and was stopped without excessive problems for Galindez. Meanwhile, Aucas had only had a free kick taken by Rómulo Otero that the Brazilian goalkeeper Santos brushed enough with his fingertips to divert the trajectory and the ball crashed off the crossbar.
In the second half, Fla seemed to show the physical exhaustion of playing at altitude, and Aucas took advantage of that to equalize the game thanks to a goal from Erick “Culebra” Castillo in the 58th minute, with a whiplash from outside the area that poisoned the legs of a defender. Castillo himself scored the second goal for Aucas nine minutes later in a display of sheer physical power where he ran between the two central defenders and finished in cold blood, but Venezuelan referee José Argote canceled the goal after reviewing in the VAR a foul in a previous play.
The prize for Aucas’ push came in the 85th minute, when in a similar play, Roberto Ordonez Ayovi he defeated the Brazilian defense to score the winning goal for Aucas, to the tears of emotion of the faithful and modest fans of the team from the south of Quito. Flamengo was able to tie it in the final moments with a shot that forced Galíndez to shine to round off a historic night for Aucas.
Aquino and Churín shine in Cerro’s victory
The Argentines Claudio Aquino and Diego Churín scored the goals that gave them the victory by 2-1 to Paraguayan Cerro Porteño against the Ecuadorian Barcelona, in the opening day of group C. El Ciclón de Barrio Obrero was the team that proposed the most on the field and that dominated for long stretches of the match, especially in the first half, with Aquino and Churín making the big difference against a Barcelona reacted late, and decorated the scoring thanks to a goal from Christian Ortiz, also from Argentina. The game took place before the packed stands of the General Pablo Rojas Stadium, known as ‘La Nueva Olla’, in Asunción. Argentine coach Fabián Bustos took up Barcelona’s traditional recipe by fielding its two best offensive players in its initial formation, the Argentines Francisco Fydriszewski and Damián Díaz.
The Ecuadorian team showed a defensive order during the first 15 minutes, but the offensive pressure from the local team eroded the wall of the visitor’s first line. The Argentine referee Darío Herrera admonished Pedro Velasco with a yellow card after a strong tackle on Churín on the edge of the area in minute 23. The play required VAR review to decree the maximum penalty, which Not here turned into a goal The goal fell like a psychological blow to the gold and red team, who completely lost order in their lines and went to half-time without having a single shot into the local frame.
The match was all for the Paraguayan team, guided by the orders of the Argentine coach Facundo Sava. Bustos tried to change things up by bringing on Janner Corozo and Jonatan Bauman for Fydriszewski and Díaz, respectively, in the 63rd minute, and the changes paid off. Barcelona realized that it could be more ambitious and advanced its lines. ortiz equalized the score after taking advantage of a defensive oversight by the locals in the 71st minute, but churrin He responded shortly after scoring the second goal for Ciclón de Barrio Obrero, after receiving a wonderful filtered pass from Aquino that broke all the lines.
From then on the match became more intense, but the score did not change and the Paraguayan team celebrated the victory.
Defeat of the ‘Verdao’
Bolivar defeated this Wednesday by 3-1 to the experienced palmeiras, who faced an alternative team in their first match in group C at an altitude of 3,650 meters in La Paz. The Argentinian midfielder Jose Lopez put Palmeiras ahead at the Hernando Siles stadium in the 13th minute, but the visitors’ joy was short-lived. The Spanish Pablo Hervias equalized at 20 minutes. The second goal came in extra time in the first part with a shot from Diego Bejarano. AND javier uzeda he made the third in the 89th minute.
The team of the Spanish Beñat San José started with strong pressure on the pupils of the Portuguese Abel Ferreira. However, the Argentine López managed to reach the right wing of Lampe’s goal, and then unleashed a left-footed shot that gave the Brazilian team the advantage. The equalizer came seven minutes later after an assist from Chilean Ronnie Fernández down the left wing.
Ferreira arranged an alternative team to face Bolívar to attend the final of the Paulista Championship against Agua Santa. At minute 43, the Venezuelan referee Alexis Herrera showed the second yellow card to Jaílson for a hand in the game, and the Verdiblanco team was outnumbered.
Bolivian Diego Bejarano finished off from the right wing with the assistance of José Sagredo after a corner kick that ended in a goal at the end of the first half.
In the second half José Sagredo was reprimanded for the second time and was sent off from the field, so Bolívar was also left with ten men. From the 60th minute, Palmeiras was more incisive and had several scoring chances that failed to materialize. Bolivian Roberto Carlos Fernández came into Lomba’s frame from the left flank and fired a shot into the center and Javier Uzeda finished off on goal to secure the third goal of the game in the 89th minute.
Group C of the Libertadores is completed by Cerro Porteño and Barcelona. Bolívar will visit Barcelona on the second day, while Palmeiras will host Cerro Porteño.
Victory away from Atlético Nacional
National Athletic reacted in time and with a brace from Dorlan Pabón he prevailed by 1-2 in view of Board of Paraná in a match on the first day of group H, played at the Brigadier General Estanislao López stadium in the city of Santa Fe. The home team quickly took the lead at minute 2 with a goal from Mateo Levato, but two goals from the figure of Atlético Nacional, Dorlan Pabón, in minutes 77 (from a penalty) and 79 allowed the visit to take the three points to Medellín.
The surprise of the match came at the start because after just two minutes of play a header from matthew levato surprised forward goalkeeper Harlen ‘Chipi’ Castillo. From that moment on, the visiting team took the initiative and went for the tie, although in the counter game Patronato had two options: in minute 20 with a mid-range shot by Juan Cruz Esquiven that Castillo controlled and in minute 40 with a Ignacio Russo’s volley that demanded the goalkeeper again. Nacional in this first stage had two options: in minute 24 a forced shot by Dorlan Pabón that Matías Budiño saved and in minute 36 a counterattack that was stifled by the defense of El Patrón.
In the second half Patronato, who plays in the second division of Argentine soccer after being relegated last year, had the option of increasing the score in the 48th minute but Juan Cruz Esquivel’s shot went over the goal. In the 74th minute the game changed course with a cross in the red and black area that led to a penalty by Matías Ruiz Díaz on Juan Torres that dorlan pabon He converted for a goal with a strong shot at medium height. With the tie, Atlético Nacional gained momentum and went for the second goal that was reached just two minutes later with a left-footed shot from his own pabon when stepping on the area that got into the upper left corner of Budiño. From then on, the Patronato had no reaction and Atlético Nacional kept the three points to start this Copa Libertadores on the right foot.
The next appearance of the Board will be on April 18 as a visitor in Asunción, at Olimpia’s home, while Atlético Nacional will receive Peruvian Melgar two days later in Medellín.
Fluminense starts winning
fluminense this Wednesday he comfortably won the Sporting Cristal by 1-3 with goals from the Argentine Germán Cano on two occasions and from the Brazilian Vitor Mendes, for the first date of group D of the Copa Libertadores played at the National Stadium in Lima.
In the first half, Fluminense jumped onto the Nacional pitch with the goal of scoring in the first minutes of the game and overwhelmed the hosts, who witnessed Renato Solís’s first shots into the frame, although he stopped them with sufficiency. However, in full attack by those led by Fernando Diniz, a counterattack by Cristal managed to open the scoring after 17 minutes of play with a cross shot from the Peruvian winger Joao Grimaldoafter a pass from Jesús Castillo.
With the goal, Cristal, led by the Brazilian Tiago Nunes, changed the dynamics of the game and began to put pressure on the visitors, who ordered their game with the experienced Marcelo and Felipe Melo. The tie came after 35 minutes with a shot from the Argentine striker German Canowho caught the rebound of a ball saved by Solís, after Nino tried to head in a corner.
After the break, Fluminense returned determined to add and block the attempts of the sky-blue team to reach Fabio’s mark. So, Spout he scored the second for Fluminense in the 59th minute capping off a play Marcelo started, setting up a pass for Keno who flicked the ball back to his star striker.
Cristal tried to recover the attack with Yosimar Yotún and the Ecuadorian Washington Corozo, but was quickly blocked by the Fluminense defense that did not let them finish their game. In one of those escapes, Corozo sent a cross to Irven Avila, but it didn’t arrive and the shot was lost in the Brazilian goal. However, Fluminense scored the third with a header from Victor Mendes at 81 minutes, receiving a corner kick.
In the last minutes the nervousness of the people of Lima was experienced to avoid a win and Solís had to leave his goal to block the shots. At that moment, Yotún was sent off the field for a double yellow card towards the end of the match, after reviewing the foul in VAR.
The match between Sporting Cristal and Fluminense closed the first day of Group D of the Libertadores, which was opened on Tuesday by The Strongest and River Plate, in La Paz, with a 3-1 victory for the Bolivians.