RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) — Atlético Mineiro took a very important step towards the final of the Copa Libertadores, by beating River Plate 3-0 in the first leg of the tournament’s semifinals, played on Tuesday night in its MRV arena in Belo Horizonte, filled by a record audience of 44,870 fans.
Author of a double and an assist, center forward Deyverson was the figure of the duel, repeating his performance in qualifying for the semi-finals, when he entered the second half and scored the two goals of victory against Rio’s Fluminense.
Galo’s “9” had a goal disallowed in the 4th minute due to offside, but opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, scored his second in the 71st minute and three minutes later gave an assist to Paulinho to seal the win.
Meanwhile, the Argentine visitor had a lackluster performance that caused him to suffer his first defeat in this edition of the Libertadores.
River’s best chances were in the first half, with a shot from Colidio that passed close to the goal and a header from Colombian Miguel Borja, which Everson calmly saved.
With the victory, Atlético Mineiro will only need a draw or even lose by two goals difference next Tuesday at the Monumental de Nuñez stadium, in Buenos Aires, to advance to the final which, by coincidence, will be played in that same stadium on November 30.
In turn, River Plate needs to win by four or more goals to qualify directly or, if they win by 3 goals, take the decision to a penalty shootout.
The other key will begin the dispute for the final this Thursday, when Botafogo will host the Uruguayan Peñarol at its Nilton Santos stadium.
