He Flamengo This Wednesday he sealed his qualification to the final of the Libertadores Cup after a goalless draw on the court Racing Club and a week after winning 1-0 at the Maracaná stadium in Rio de Janeiro. With a great performance by the Argentine goalkeeper Agustín Rossi, the orderly resistance of Fla began, which from 55 minutes on played with ten due to the expulsion of the Ecuadorian striker Gonzalo Plata.
Flamengo is seeking the fourth Copa Libertadores title this year after the conquests of 1981, 2019 and 2022. Their rival will be the best in the series between Palmeiras and Liga de Quito, which in the first leg they beat 3-0 in the Ecuadorian capital.
After an impressive reception at the ‘Cilindro de Avellaneda’, the first actions were favorable for Flamengo, first with a mid-range shot by Araújo in the 10th minute and then a save by Facundo Cambeses after a shot by Guillermo Varela four minutes later.
Adrián Balboa of Racing controls a ball during the match against Flamengo
Racing created two clear opportunities. At 11 minutes Agustín Rossi pushed himself hard to clear a corner header from Conechny, to begin to establish himself as the great figure of the night, and in the 32nd minute Santiago Solari took a shot that went just over the crossbar. And just a minute later, the Uruguayan Giorgian De Arrascaeta had a one-on-one that goalkeeper Cambeses cleared with his face.
After the second half the benches were rotated and in the 55th minute Plata received the red card for attacking Rojo. From that moment on Racing went with more substance than football and in the 67th minute Agustín Almendra forced a new intervention from Agustín Rossi, who two minutes later intervened against an irruption by Adrián ‘Maravilla’ Martínez.
TECHNICAL SHEET
0 – Racing Club: Facundo Cambeses; Facundo Mura (m.70, Gastón Martirena), Nazareno Colombo, Marcos Rojo, Gabriel Rojas; Juan Nardoni (m.70, Matías Zaracho), Bruno Zuculini, Agustín Almendra (m.77, Adrián Balboa); Santiago Solari (m.77, Luciano Vietto), Adrián Maravilla Martínez and Tomás Conechny (m.63, Duvan Vergara).
Coach: Gustavo Costas
0 – Flamnego: Agustín Rossi; Guillermo Varela (m.72, Emerson Royal), Léo Ortiz, Léo Pereira, Alex Sandro; Jorginho (m.86, Evertton Araujo), Erick Pulgar, Giorgian De Arrascaeta (m.59, Danilo), Jorge Carrascal (m.59, Bruno Henrique); Luiz Araújo (m.72, Saúl Ñíguez) and Gonzalo Plata.
Coach: Filipe Luís
Referee: Chilean Piero Maza sent off Gonzalo Plata (m.55) and cautioned Facundo Mura and Marcos Rojo.
Incidents: Second leg match of the Copa Libertadores semi-finals played at the Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Perón ‘Cilindro de Avellaneda’, in Buenos Aires.
In the 73rd minute the Chilean referee Piero Maza showed the red card to Marcos Rojo for an alleged elbow to Léo Pereira but then the VAR in charge of Juan Lara warned him that it had been a head contact and the expulsion was reversed. For the last minutes, Racing had an option with a header from ‘Rocky’ Balboa that went close to the post (m.85) and in the last minute of the game in the 91st minute, goalkeeper Agustín Rossi cleared a frontal shot from Luciano Vietto.
