Atlético Mineiro won at home on Tuesday by 3-1 against Independiente del Valle of Ecuador and advanced to the final of the Copa Sudamericana, in a match held at the Arena MRV in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
The goals for the team led by Jorge Sampaoli were scored by Guilherme Arana in the 36th minute of the first half, and Bernard in the 44th minute of the same period, while Hulk also scored in the 28th minute of the second half. Meanwhile, Claudio Spinelli had managed to pull one back for the visiting team in the 18th minute of the second period.
With this result of 4-2 on aggregate, after the 1-1 draw in the first leg in Guayaquil, the 'albinegro' team will play the decisive match for the title on Saturday, November 22, in Asunción, Paraguay, where they will face the winner of the match between Lanús and Universidad de Chile.
In the early moments of the match, the home team came out determined to open the scoring, but they were met by an outstanding Guido Villar, the goalkeeper of the Ecuadorian team, who contained the constant attacks.
After the first 20 minutes of the game, the match stalled, and Independiente del Valle found their rhythm and settled down.
However, an error in the visitors' build-up from the back led to Guilherme Arana's goal, who only had to push the ball into the net after a series of rebounds inside the area.
Towards the end of the first half, another mistake by the team led by Javier Rabanal resulted in the team's second goal.
Dudu recovered the ball in midfield, carried it forward, and assisted Bernard, who finished with class over the goalkeeper.
Nevertheless, Argentine forward Claudio Spinelli took advantage of the weak response from Atlético Mineiro's goalkeeper, Everson, to pull one back in the 18th minute of the second half and bring the Ecuadorian team back into the game when the home side were closer to scoring a third goal of the match.
In the 28th minute, a new defensive error by IDV left Hulk one-on-one with Guido Villar, who could do nothing against the finish of the historic Brazilian forward, and the former Porto player sealed the 'gallo' team's qualification for the Copa Sudamericana final.
