The Uruguayan Penarol will be the rival of the Ecuadorian Independiente del Valle in the final of the Copa Libertadores sub’20 after defeating Caracas 2-1 in the semifinals with a brace from Máximo Alonso.
For its part, Caracas will start that same day in the preliminary match against Guaraní from Paraguay for third place in the youth Libertadores that is played for the sixth time.
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It will be the third final for the Ecuadorian team, which lost it in 2018 against Nacional from Uruguay and won the 2020 against River Plate from Argentina, while for Peñarol it will be the first.
In this Thursday’s game, Peñarol took the lead after an excellent play finished off by attacker Alonso with a violent cross shot from the left flank, at minute 12, to a heel pass from Oscar José Cruz.
Caracas calmly took the contrast and gradually approached the Uruguayan goal, until at minute 26, Renné Rivas launched a cross, which found Manuel Sulbarán well outlined, who finished off the goalkeeper’s right side with precision.
The Venezuelan team insisted on seeking the second entry, and Jean Alberto Torres aimed a violent shot from a great distance that crashed into the left vertical, at minute 36.
As soon as the match restarted, Peñarol’s scorer, Cruz, shot as he walked from the edge of the “Llanera” area and the ball bounced off the right vertical.
The referee of the match, the Colombian Carlos Ortega, suspended the game from the 54th minute for more than an hour due to the intensity of the rain.
Once the match resumed, Penarol He came forward after a great maneuver by Alonso, who received the ball from the right, outwitted a rival, went in diagonally and with a low shot he introduced the ball between the left upright and the goalkeeper, at minute 60.
At the end of the game, Caracas suffered the expulsion of Brian Ortega.
Prior to this Thursday’s game, Peñarol suffered the loss of three players and his coach due to covid-19 infections.
In the first semifinal, Independiente del Valle qualified by beating Paraguay’s Guaraní 3-1, with two goals from Uruguayan attacker Francisco Sagardia and another from Anthony Valencia, while Romeo Benítez provided the discount.
Previous tournaments were won by Universitario de Deportes from Peru in 2011, River Plate from Argentina in 2012, Sao Paulo in 2018, Nacional from Uruguay in 2019 and Independiente del Valle in 2020.