BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) — Atlético Mineiro of Brazil and River Plate of Argentina will open this Tuesday the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores de América, the most important continental club tournament in South America.
The match will be played at 9:30 p.m. local time (00:30 GMT) at the Arena MRV stadium, in Belo Horizonte, with the refereeing of Venezuelan Jesús Valenzuela.
The rematch will take place a week later, at the same time, at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, with sold-out seats and a capacity of 86,000 spectators.
This will be the scene of the single final, on Saturday, November 30, as announced by the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol).
The other semifinal will face local Botafogo from Brazil this Wednesday the 23rd against Peñarol from Uruguay, at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, with the arbitration of Colombian Andrés Rojas.
On Wednesday, October 30, revenge will take place at the Campeón del Siglo stadium, in Montevideo, where the local team will seek to reach a Libertadores final since 2011, when they lost to Santos from Brazil.
River, led by Marcelo Gallardo, has won four titles in this competition: 1986, 1996, 2015 and 2018, the last two with its current coach.
Atlético Mineiro, whose coach is the Argentine Gabriel Milito, was champion in 2013, when it beat Olimpia of Paraguay.
Botafogo, which has the Portuguese Artur Jorge in charge of the team, never won the Libertadores and Peñarol, today under the technical direction of Diego Aguirre, was crowned five times: 1960, 1961, 1966, 1982 and 1987.
Also this week the semifinals of the Copa Sudamericana will take place, the second most important competition on the continent organized by Conmebol.
On Wednesday the 23rd they will play Cruzeiro (Brazil) vs. Lanús (Argentina) and the next day Corinthians (Brazil) vs. Racing Club (Argentina).
A week later the venues will reverse and the series will be defined in Argentina, in search of the final to take place on Saturday, November 23 at the La Nueva Olla stadium, in Asunción, Paraguay.
Of the four semifinalists, only Lanús was champion of the Sudamericana, in 2013, when they beat the Brazilian team Ponte Preta.
