The Argentine Germán Ezequiel Cano, an old acquaintance of the Colombian league, approached the Fluminense to phase 3 of the Libertadores Cup by giving him the 1-2 victory in Bogotá against millionaireswho played more than 70 minutes with one less and missed a penalty when the match was 1-1.
In addition to Cano, Independiente Medellin’s all-time top scorer, center-back David Braz scored for the Flu, while the people of the capital had gone ahead with a goal from Venezuelan Eduardo Sosa, who was sent off for a double warning in the 18th minute.
The hosts came out to attack their rivals from the first moment and with that initial dominance they opened the scoring in the 6th minute in a counterattack in which David Silva received the ball on the edge of the area, returned it to the skillful Daniel Ruiz and this he leaked a pass to Sosa, who sent a right hand that beat Fabio.
The Colombian team kept up the momentum and dominated their rival during the opening minutes, who looked stagnant and made very few balls in that stretch to Luiz Hernique, Fred and Willian Bigode, who precisely took the first shot of his team in the 16th minute .
However, everything changed when Sosa, who had been booked in a clash with veteran Felipe Melo, received the second yellow card for a slap on Bigode in the rival area and left his team with 10 in the 18th minute.
Thus, Abel Braga’s team gained confidence as the minutes went by and managed to equalize in the 42nd minute in a play in which goalkeeper Álvaro Montero rebounded, which his rivals took advantage of to send the ball into the back of the net. braz’s hand
Andrés Llinás (Millionaires) disputes a ball with Fred (Fluminense)
For the second half, Fluminense, led in attack by Cano who replaced the injured Fred in the initial stage, came out to attack but it was their rival who found a penalty when Ruiz was brought down in the area by Yago Felipe. But Silva threw and Fabio saved, which gave a new air to a team that, despite having one more on the court, suffered more than expected against a tough opponent who tried to win the game despite adversity.
However, that way of attacking was what led to the final 1-2 for Fluminense, who, in a counterattack led by Matheus Martinelli, found only the speedy Luiz Henrique who saw Cano arrive in the central zone of the area and passed him the ball to celebrate his first goal in this edition of the Libertadores.
With this result, everything will be defined in the second leg, which will be played on March 1 at the São Januário stadium. The team that qualifies will have to play one more tie to be in the group stage, in which they will face the winner of the tie between Olimpia and Atlético Nacional.
DATA SHEET
1 – Millionaires: Alvaro Montero; Andrés Román (m.90+1, Elvis Perlaza), Andrés Llinás, Juan Pablo Vargas, Omar Bertel; Stiven Vega, Larry Vásquez (d.82, Richard Celis), David Silva (d.90+1, Juan Carlos Pereira), Eduardo Sosa, Daniel Ruiz (d.90+1, Édgar Guerra), and Diego Herazo (d. 63, Jader Valencia).
Trainer: Alberto Gamero
2 – Fluminense: Fabio; Nino, Felipe Melo (m.64, Ganso), David Braz; André, Yago Felipe (m.75, Matheus Martinelli), Calegari, Cris Silva (m.64, Mario Pineida); Luiz Hernique, Willian Bigode (m.46, Jhon Arias) and Fred (m.38, Germán Cano).
Coach: Abel Braga
Goals: 0-1, Eduardo Sosa (m. 6); 1-1, David Braz (d. 42); 1-2, German Cano (n. 76)
Referee: the Argentine Darío Herrera expelled Eduardo Sosa, for a double yellow card, at minute 18 and admonished Felipe Melo, Calegari, Andrés Llinás and David Braz.
Incidents: First leg of the second preliminary phase of the Copa Libertadores played at the El Campín stadium, in Bogotá
