Fluminense already knows who will be the last club present in their group at Libertadores. This is Junior Barranquilla, from Colombia, classified after beating Bolívar by 3 to 0, this Thursday, for the return game of the 3rd phase of the pre phase. With that, Group D of the competition will be formed by Fluminense, River Plate, Santa Fe and Junior Barranquilla.
Before, Junior had eliminated Caracas, from Venezuela, still in the second phase of the competition. Eliminated, Bolívar enters the group of Ceará in the Copa Sudamericana, which also has Jorge Wilstermann-BOL and Arsenal de Sarandí-ARG. Under Conmebol regulations, only one team advances.
Junior depended on a simple result to guarantee the classification. In the first match, in La Paz, Bolivia, Bolívar won 2 to 1. Leonardo Ramos, one of the competition’s top scorers so far with three goals, and Bejarano scored for the home team, and Mera scored for the Colombians. On the way back, in Barranquilla, the Colombians’ strength was worth it.
Junior’s classification was built just after 12 minutes of the first half. Center-forward Miguel Borja, formerly of Palmeiras, took advantage of the cross from Hinestroza coming from the right – and the beautiful collaboration of the Bolívar defense that failed in the move – to head and open the scoring.
Things were even more relaxed when Leonardo Ramos, from Bolívar, was expelled. Open path for Junior who scored the second in the final stage. Jhon Pajoy, who entered the second half, hit with category to extend the score.
In the end, the Bolivians still tried to equalize to take to the penalties, but when launching everyone for the attack, they left the counterattack free for Hinestroza to score the third and to classify the Colombians.
In all, there were four places in contention in the previous phase of the continental competition. Santos, Atlético Nacional and Independiente del Valle had previously secured the spot, with Junior Barranquilla completing the list of classifieds.
Fluminense table in Libertadores:
- 22/4 – Fluminense x River Plate-ARG (19h)
- 28/4 – Santa Fe-COL x Fluminense (21h)
- 06/5 – Junior Barranquilla-COL x Fluminense (19h)
- 12/5 – Fluminense x Santa Fe-COL (21h)
- 18/5 – Fluminense x Bolivar-BOL x Junior Barranquilla-COL (21:30)
- 25/5 – River Plate-ARG x Fluminense (19h15)
Table of Ceará in South America:
- 4/21 – Ceará vs. J. Wilstermann-BOL
- 28/4 – Arsenal-ARG vs Ceará
- 5/5 – Bolivar vs Ceará
- 12/5 – Ceará x Arsenal-ARG
- 19/5 – Ceará x Bolívar
- 5/26 – J. Wilstermann-BOL x Ceará
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