Olimpia put in, ran and got her prize. They tied 1-1 (on aggregate 2-4) with visiting Atlético Nacional and qualified for Phase 3 of the Conmebol Libertadores 2022, where the Brazilian Fluminense awaits. Both teams finished with 10.
Olimpia was presented today at the colossal Atanasio Girardot stadium in Medellin before more than 41 thousand souls of the ‘purslane’.
It is that Atlético Nacional resorted to its fervent fans in order to find the necessary strength to overcome the defeat (1-3) suffered in Asunción a week ago.
Julio César Cáceres was not impressed and chose to start with Jorge Recalde. He sat down the scorer Guillermo Paiva in order not to neglect the spaces between the lines that make possible the fast counterattacks led by the experienced Dorlan Pabón.
The fringed strategist also opted for Fernando Cardozo (who scored a double in the first leg) and kept Derlis González and Alejandro Silva as shock men, both guarded by the youthful Marcos Gómez, always versatile in his containment work.
Olimpia’s approach was more defensive, very cautious. He worried about moving the ball away from his area and began to manage the times of the game by wide passages, almost without complications, also in part due to the lack of precision of the rivals and the nerves typical of such a circumstance.
The Colombian squad relied on the shots of Jarlan Barrera and Daniel Mantilla to bring danger to the goal defended by the Uruguayan Gastón Olveira. The harassment became even more intense towards the end of the first stage, but to no avail, luckily for the Paraguayans.
And Atlético Nacional came out like a storm from changing rooms. He discounted 20 seconds after starting the complementary with a bombshell from the recently entered Andrés Andrade.
Andrade changed the face of his team. He himself crashed another shot on the crossbar and kept Olveira in anxiety. It seemed that the night was coming for Olimpia, but a bad start by the local goalkeeper served the ball to defender Saúl Salcedo, who rammed in extremis to seal the tie (57′).
The Girardot felt the blow and lowered the decibels. Also Atlético Nacional, disoriented when it comes to putting their game back together.
20′ from the end both teams were left with 10 due to the expulsions of Felipe Aguilar and Guillermo Paiva (who had entered a few minutes before).
Finally, Olimpia put cold cloths on the matter and slept through the situations until qualifying for Phase 3.
Now the Dean will face the Brazilian Fluminense (first leg in Rio and return in Asunción), who beat Millonarios from Colombia, for a place in the Group Phase.
And eye. Iván Torres and Saúl Salcedo finished with muscular problems. The team feels the load of games and Cáceres will have to make decisions.
