The Melgar Peruvian achieved on penalties (1-3) a historic classification to the semifinals of the South American Cupin which the Ecuadorian Independiente del Valle will be measured after drawing 0-0 this Thursday in their visit to the Brazilian Internacional in the second leg of the quarterfinals.
The team from Arequipa, who had given up a 0-0 draw at home last week in the first leg, knew how to resist pressure from Colorado in Porto Alegre and draw again goalless to force the decision on penalties, in which it was much more effective.
Melgar took advantage of Inter’s poor aim, which wasted its first three shots, and advanced to a semifinal of an international tournament for the first time.
Melgar achieved a new record by becoming the first club from his country to reach the semifinals since 2003, when Cienciano, the only Peruvian to reach this stage, won the Sudamericana. The other semi-final will be played by the also Brazilians Atlético Goianiense and Sao Paulo.
The Argentine Braian Romero, who wore the Inter shirt for the first time after his arrival in the country from River Plate, showed his good record in the South American, of which he was champion and scorer in 2020 with Defense and Justice, and at 19 Seconds of the match, he starred in his first dangerous move and almost opened the scoring, but he got tangled up when it came to getting rid of the goalkeeper.
Despite the dominance of the locals in the first minutes, Pérez Guedes surprised in a counterattack and forced goalkeeper Daniel to show off to prevent Melgar from scoring.
The Argentine Bernardo Cuesta, current top scorer in the South American with eight goals, also forced Daniel to anticipate several times to prevent the ball from reaching the center forward of Melgar.
Melgar’s counterattacks only occasionally interrupted the intense pressure from Inter, mainly with Wánderson and Romero, who again after 20 minutes narrowly opened the scoring with a header saved by Cáceda.
At 25 Edenilson headed in a header from Wánderson’s lift, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Alan Patrick (Independent) tries to get rid of Alec Deneumostier and Walter Tandazo
The second half began with the same scenario, Internacional pressing and Melgar limiting himself to counterattacks, and Cáceda became a figure by frustrating the Brazilians’ finishes, including a shot from Wánderson and another from Bustos.
Given the lack of aim despite the total control of the game and the need to score so as not to have to define the classification on penalties, the coach of Internacional, Mano Menezes, decided to give the team offensive power with the entry of Taison in the place of Allan Patrick.
Melgar, for his part, preferred to touch the ball in an attempt to manage the tie and more interested in penalties.
Inter’s impotence worsened in the 74th minute when midfielder Gabriel was sent off for a strong tackle on Arias. Menezes, then, replaced his two forwards, including Romero, to oxygenate his attack.
But the Peruvian team, who had limited themselves to defending themselves, took advantage of their numerical advantage in the last minutes to go on the attack and threatened Daniel’s goal several times, but time was not enough and they had to resign themselves to defining the classification on penalties.
DATA SHEET
0 – International: Daniel; Fabricio Bustos, Vitao, Gabriel Mercado, Rene; Gabriel, Edenilson, Carlos De Pena, Alan Patrick (m.65, Taison); Wánderson (m.80, Pedro Henrique) and Braian Romero (m.80, Mikael)
Coach: Mano Menezes
0 – Melgar: Carlos Caceda; Alejandro Ramos, Alec Deneumostier, Leonel Galeano, Paolo Reyna; Horacio Orzan, Walter Tandazo (m.59, Kenji Cabrera), Alexis Arias (m.82, Jean Pierre Archimbaud), Martín Pérez Guedes, Cristian Bordacahar (m.45, Luis Ibérico); and Bernardo Cuesta
Coach: Pablo Lavallen
Penalties (1-3): Cabrera, Cuesta, Ibérico scored for Melgar and Galeano failed. For International only Pedro Henrique scored and Edenilson, Taison and Carlos de Pena failed.
Referee: the Chilean Roberto Tobar expelled Gabriel and admonished Reyna and De Pena
Incidents: second leg for the quarterfinals of the Copa Sudamericana played at the Beira-Río stadium in Porto Alegre before 43,191 spectators
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