He Atlético Mineiro beat this Tuesday 3-1 at Valley Independent Ecuadorian in the second leg for the semifinals of the South American Cup with goals from Guilherme Arana, Bernard and Hulk, and took the first place in the final on November 22 in Asunción. The Brazilian team, which had achieved a 1-1 draw on its visit to Quito in the first leg last week and needed a victory by any score to advance, will face in the final on Paraguayan lands the winner of the duel between Universidad de Chile and Argentine Lanús, who tied 2-2 in the first leg in Santiago.
The Belo Horizonte team, under the command of Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli, took to the field with a trio of attackers due to the need to win at home and be able to continue dreaming of the only title within reach this year, after their elimination in the Copa do Brasil and their irregularity in the Brazilian Championship. Independiente, who felt the absence of the injured Andy Velasco and Juanito Cazares, were not even a shadow in Belo Horizonte of the effective team that comfortably leads the final hexagonal of the Ecuadorian league.
Gabriel Teixeira (Mineiro) disputes a ball against Mateo Carabajal
The Brazilian team began pressing from the beginning of the match and had its first opportunity in the first minute, when Guilherme Arana received a pass from Dudu, but his shot was deflected for a corner kick. Immediately afterwards, Paraguayan Junior Alonso, after receiving assistance from Arana, headed into the area and forced goalkeeper Guido Villar to shine in his first defense.
Sampaoli’s men maintained the pressure throughout the first half, but their forwards wasted several opportunities, while Independiente del Valle tried to shake it off with many passes, but without advancing into the opposing area. Atlético tried both with Dudu and Rony in the forwards and with Bernard, Arana and Igor Gomes in the center, but continually collided with a very well-positioned Ecuadorian defense.
The locals only managed to open the scoring in the 35th minute when, after a series of rejections inside the area, Dudu recovered a ball and assisted Arana, who finally managed to beat Villar. The goal did not stop Atlético’s momentum and, seven minutes later and again with an assist from Dudu, they scored the second through Bernard.
The march of more than Independiente had a prize
In the second half, with Mineiro apparently satisfied with the partial advantage and more interested in managing the score, Independiente del Valle went on the attack and began to assume dominance and get closer and closer to the goal defended by Everson. The change of dominance took effect in the 63rd minute when Independiente managed to score after a shot from Arroyo that Everson had difficulty controlling. Argentine Claudio Spinelli took advantage of the rebound to score the Ecuadorian goal.
TECHNICAL SHEET
3 – Atlético Mineiro: Everson; Ruan, Vitor Hugo, Junior Alonso, Guilherme Arana; Fausto Vera (m.74, Renzo Saravia), Alan Franco (m.87, Alexsander), Igor Gomes; Rony (m.57, Hulk), Bernard (m.87, Reinier) and Dudu (m.74, Biel)
Coach: Jorge Sampaoli
1 – Independent of the Valley: Guido Villar; Matías Fernández, Mateo Carabajal, Richard Schunke, Gustavo Cortez (m.81, Luis Felipe Zárate); Jordy Alcívar, Junior Sornoza (m.81, Layan Loor), Patrik Mercado (m.81, Alex Ibarra), Jean Pierre Arroyo (m.79, Darwin Guagua); Michael Hoyos (m.87, Yandri Vásquez) and Claudio Spinelli.
Coach: Javier Rabanal
Goals: 1-0, Guilherme Arana (m. 35); 2-0, Bernard (m. 42); 2-1, Spinelli (m. 63); 3-1, Hulk (m. 72)
Referee: Uruguayan Esteban Ostojich yellow carded Jean Pierre Arroyo, Biel and Everson
Incidents: second leg of the Copa Sudamericana semifinals played at the Arena MRV stadium in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte in front of 40,185 spectators
But the joy of the Ecuadorian Matagigantes did not last long because the veteran forward and scorer Hulk, who entered in the second half in Rony’s place, took advantage of a counterattack and an assist from Junior Alonso to score Atlético Mineiro’s third. Despite the two-goal advantage, the locals decided to go on the attack, mainly with the oxygen they gained with the entry of forwards Hulk and Biel, but they wasted the opportunities they had to expand the score even further.
