1-0. Paranaense defeated Palmeiras and is approaching the final

Athletico Paranaense won this Tuesday by 1-0 in Brazilian Palmeiras, champions of the last two editions of the Copa Libertadores, and took advantage of the dispute for a place in the final of the tournament.

The team led by the ex-selector Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari dominated with a goal from Alex Santana in 23 minutes and, despite suffering a dismissal in the 70th, he knew how to defend that advantage in the second half, where the São Paulo team pressed for a draw in the first leg of the Libertadores semifinals.

After the victory in their difficult fortress, the synthetic field of the Arena da Baixada stadium, Paranaense now need at least a draw in the second leg, next week in Sao Paulo, to enter the final, where the winner of the duel between the Brazilian Flamengo and the Argentine Vélez Sarfield will be measured.

In addition to jeopardizing Palmeiras’ dream of playing in its third consecutive Libertadores final and pursuit of a three-time championship, the Curitiba club ended the unbeaten team from São Paulo, which went 18 games without defeat in the Libertadores .

Palmeiras pressed from the first minute, mainly with the Argentine center forward Jose ‘Flaco’ Lopez within the area waiting for surveys of Rony and Dudu from the ends and lower passes of Raphael Vega.

López starred in the first dangerous play after 5 minutes after recovering a ball in an attack and receiving a lift from Dudu which ended without a goal.

But Paranaense immediately knew how to react and began to continue attacking with the Uruguayan Agustin Canobbio, Alex Santana and Vitinho.

At 13 minutes, the locals almost opened the scoring with a play from Hugo Mora than Paraguayan Gustavo Gomez He almost went through his own door but the goalkeeper saved him Weverton.

Paranaense’s reaction had an impact in the 23rd minute when Santana opened the scoring after receiving a pass inside the area from Victor Roque.

Santana himself narrowly increased the score seven minutes later amid intense pressure from Athletico in a Palmeiras team limited to counterattacks.

In one of those counterattacks, with four minutes left, López headed to the lift from Rony and almost equalized for the continental champion.

Palmeiras’ situation became more complicated when its creator, Raphael Veiga, had to be replaced by Bruno Tabata due to an injury early in the second period.

However, Verdao took advantage of the fact that Paranaense seemed to settle for 1-0 and went on the attack in search of a draw.

The domain changed sides and while Palmeiras began to press with the plays of Tabata and Gabriel Menino, his rival was only playing defense.

The locals dug themselves into their own half but their strategy of stopping attack and defending themselves was threatened in the 70th minute with the sending off of Hugo Moura, soon followed by the sending off of Scolari himself for his complaints from the bench.

Palmeiras took advantage of the numerical advantage to further increase the pressure and even the defenders Gustavo Gomez and Joaquin Piquerez They went on the attack.

In just five minutes, the coach of Palmeiras, the Portuguese Abel Ferreradecided to bet all his chips on the entry of three players to strengthen the attack, and Paranaense immediately responded by entering three forwards, including the Argentine striker Tomás Cuello and the dangerous Pablo.

But Palmeiras, despite being the clear dominators and the many scoring plays they generated, did not even have eight minutes of substitution to reach the draw and now they have to play for a victory of more than one goal at home to go in his third final.

Data sheet:

1. Athletico Paranaense: Bento; Khellven, Pedro Henrique, Thiago Heleno, Ábner Vinicius; Hugo Moura, Fernandinho (m.95, Leo Cittadini), Alex Santana (m.91, Erick); Agustín Canobbio (m.85, Rómulo), Vítor Roque (m.85, Tomás Cuello) and Vitinho (m.85, Pablo).

Instructor: Luiz Felipe Scolari.

0. Palmeiras: Weverton; Marcos Rocha (m.84, Mayque), Gustavo Gómez, Murilo, Joaquín Piquerez; Gabriel Menino, Ze Rafael (m.84, Eduard Atuesta), Raphael Veiga (m.52, Bruno Tabata); José López (m.64, Wesley), Rony (m.84, Rafael Navarro) and Dudú.

Coach: Abel Ferreira.

Goal: 1-0, m.23: Alex Santana.

Referee: Chilean Roberto Tobar dismissed Moura and coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and gave yellow cards to Ze Rafael, Tabata and Vitinho.

Incidents: first leg of the Copa Libertadores semifinals played at the Arena da Baixada stadium in Curitiba.