Athletico Paranaense beat Peñarol 2-0 on Thursday in the second leg for the Copa Sudamericana semifinals and guaranteed his place in the final, in which Bragantino will be measured for the title.
Despite the dominance of the Uruguayan team at the Arena da Baixada stadium in Curitiba, Paranaense won at home with goals from Nikao and Pedro Rocha, after winning 1-2 in the first leg of the semifinal, played last week in Montevideo .
The victory of the Curitiba team guaranteed the plenary session of the Brazilian clubs in the decisions of the two continental tournaments this year, since the final of the Libertadores will be contested by Flamengo and Palmeiras.
Paranaese, champion of the South American in 2018 and who seeks to become the first Brazilian to lift the title twice, will face Bragantino in the final in a single match, on November 20 at the Centenario stadium in Montevideo, against Bragantino, who eliminated in semifinals to the Paraguayan Libertad and will play the first final of a continental tournament in its 93-year history.
Peñarol, under the command of coach Mauricio Larriera and who was only served by victory to advance, went on the attack from the beginning and in the first five minutes generated several dangerous plays at the feet mainly of Walter Gargano and Facundo Torres.
The Uruguayan club, with Agustín Canobbio and Pablo Ceppelini as its most outstanding players, was the clear dominator in the first half, in which it counted nine completions against only three of the Brazilian.
Paranaense, temporarily led by Paulo Autouri due to the fact that he has not yet hired his new coach, preferred to strengthen himself in defense and take advantage of possible counterattacks, in one of which Guilherme Bissoli almost opened the scoring at 9 minutes.
In another counterattack launched by Uruguayan David Terans, a former Peñarol player who scored one of Paranaense’s goals in the first leg, the Curitiba team opened the scoring in the 24th minute through Nikao.
Peñarol, already at a disadvantage and needing three goals, insisted and two minutes later he narrowly tied with a header from Agustín Álvarez Martínez that crashed into the crossbar defended by Santos. Four minutes after the goal, Juan Ramos received a pass inside the area and was brought down by Erick. The referee whistled the penalty, which was confirmed by the VAR, but Santos saved the Paranaense by stopping the shot at Ceppelini.
The wasted penalty did not discourage Peñarol, who stayed on the offensive for the rest of the first half. In the second part the Carbonero returned to the charge, now reinforced with the entry of Ariel Nahualpán and Diego Valentín Rodríguez, and forced the locals to lock themselves in their area.
Despite the pressure from Peñarol, Paranaense managed to manage their advantage and were more dangerous with their counterattacks than the Uruguayans with the ball dominated. This strategy paid off in the 80th minute when Pedro Rocha, who had entered the place of David Terans a few minutes earlier, extended the score after receiving an assist from Nikao in the area.
.
