Inter de Porto Alegre beat Bolivian Bolívar 1-0, this Tuesday in La Paz, in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores-2023, and was a stone’s throw away from reaching the semifinals.
The goal was obtained after 16 minutes by the Ecuadorian Enner Valencia. The rematch is set for August 29 at the Beira-Rio stadium, in Porto Alegre.
The Bolivians had anticipated in the preview that their goal was to press from the first minutes, obtain a good margin of goal difference and then go calmly to the second leg.
After 10 minutes, Bolívar gave the first sign of trying to open the scoring, with a shot from Francisco da Costa, but goalkeeper Sergio Rochet saved with great effort.
The local siege was maintained, with the well-known strategy of harassing the adversaries at the 3,600 m altitude of La Paz, to keep them boxed in their sector. Height is always a factor that they try to use to their advantage and that later has an effect on visitors.
This was the goal of Inter Porto Alegre in La Paz
But the surprise came minutes later: the Ecuadorian Valencia, who officiated as spearhead, overflowed through the right sector and finished off crossed, in a millimeter way to open the numbers after 16 minutes.
With the partial result in his favor, the red-necked gaucho equalized the game, but Bolívar made wear and tear to level, although Inter’s defense kept its orderly and closed script. From time to time sudden plays were manifested, as a reflection of the heat of battle.
The Bolivians made merits to reach the first goal, but Inter de Porto Alegre found ways to keep the result in their favor, without despairing. The visit knew how to contain each attack by the locals, to tie him up in the middle sector and to go on the counterattack, whenever he could.
Captain Alan Patrick was one of the great figures, along with Valencia, to keep his team focused on the game.
For the second half, Bolívar stepped on the accelerator to the full to equalize the score, while Inter withdrew their lines a bit and searched several times for some genius from Valencia. Even a miraculous arm from goalkeeper Sergio Rochet and a shot to the crossbar kept the result in favor of the Brazilian team.
The rough game refloated and the game slowed down, with the desperate Bolivians. The Academy advanced their lines under pressure to reach the goal, while the clock advanced unstoppably. In addition, in each shot of the Bolivians there was a wall of the Colorados.
Bolívar was left with the frills made to repeat his successful strategy two weeks ago, against the Brazilian Paranaense, of winning with good goals in his favor in the first leg, to hold out in the second leg.
The match on Brazilian soil is uphill, but Inter now have everything in their favor to continue in the race.
The winner between the Bolivians and the Brazilians will face the winner of the key between the Paraguayan Olimpia and the Brazilian Fluminense in the semifinal. Inter de Porto Alegre is one of the teams that paints to reach the final of the Copa Libertadores.
SPORTS
with AFP
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