Atletico hold River to reach Libertadores final

Atletico Mineiro withstood considerable pressure from River Plate and their impassioned supporters at the Estadio Monumental to reach the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores final. The goalless draw completed a 3-0 aggregate victory that secured Gabriel Milito’s men a decider against Botafogo, who lead 5-0 from the first leg of their semi-final, or Penarol.

The Libertadores champions will qualify for the FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2024™ and seize South America’s final spot at the 32-team FIFA Club World Cup 2025™.

River, roared on by the majority of the 85,000 crowd, applied intense pressure from the outset, but Atletico’s defence was unflinching, limiting their adversaries to a series of corners. The best chance of the half surprisingly fell at the other end. Deyverson pressured Matias Kranevitter into a mistake and galloped into the River box. Franco Armani had to be extremely careful, but he flicked the ball away from the Atletico forward impeccably with his outstretched arm.

Gustavo Scarpa’s spectacular strike came back off the crossbar at the start of the second half, much to River’s relief, before substitute Claudio Echeverri almost made an immediate impact. The 18-year-old sensation, on loan at River from Manchester City, played a one-two and jinked inside Junior Alonso, only for Everson to make a superb save from his close-range shot.

Los Millonarios refused to throw in the towel, but simply could not break Galo down.

Quotes
“Congratulations to the River supporters, the party they put on was tremendous. It was a memorable party, a memorable game against a great team on a spectacular pitch. It was surreal. This is a great time. We’re in the final, which was our target.”
Gustavo Scarpa, Atletico Mineiro midfielder

Global finals
Atletico will now play in their second Libertadores final. Ronaldinho inspired them to a comeback victory over Olimpia in 2013.

The Libertadores 2024 champions will play Pachuca in the FIFA Derby of the Americas on 11 December at Stadium 974 in Doha, Qatar. The winners of that game will face Al Ahly for the right to take on Real Madrid in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final.

Atletico are also vying to secure South America’s final place – alongside Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras and River – at the FIFA Club World Cup, which will kick off on 15 June in the USA.

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