Throughout the history of the Libertadores Cup, a South American counterpart to the European Champions League, teams from one country only met twice in decisive matches. The first home final had to wait 45 years. The second is only a year.
Last season, the Brazilian “Sao Paulo” and “Atletico Paranaense” reached the final stage of the draw. A serious struggle then did not work out - in the sum of two games the Paulists won 5: 1. This time, the current trophy holder was opposed by another team from the south of the country - Internacional from the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
A week ago, Inter won away - 2: 1. The return match was held at the Beira Rio stadium, which thus celebrated a small but anniversary: this arena for the 25th time hosted the matches of the main continental tournament. However, the 60-thousandth record in Porto Alegre is far from a record: 352 matches of the Libertadores Cup have already been played at the famous Centenario in Montevideo.
Not embarrassed by this circumstance, Inter's torsida staged a real firework festival, which created some problems for the participants in the match. In the middle of the first half, the game was stopped for five minutes and resumed only after the smoke screen had dissipated a bit. And soon after that, the first goal was scored: goalkeeper-scorer “São Paulo” dropped the ball from his hands, and ferned about Fernandao pushed him into the net. The captain of Inter (five goals scored) shared the laurels of the tournament’s best goalscorer with 13 more snipers.
Faban equalized at the beginning of the second half, Ting again brought the hosts ahead. Celebrating success, the Inter midfielder pulled a T-shirt over his head, and when he lowered it back, he saw a second yellow card in front of him from the Argentinean referee Horacio Elisondo. And although all the remaining time the Paulists spent half of the opponent, they realized the numerical advantage only once - Lenilson, who replaced, distinguished himself. Draw 2: 2 was in favor of “Inter”.
The club from Porto Alegre won the prestigious trophy for the first time and will perform at the club world championships in winter. So far, only Brazilian teams have won this competition. To turn its continental glory into a worldwide one, Inter will have to beat Barcelona.
Mikhail MELNIKOV