Atlético Nacional, champion of the Libertadores in 1989 and 2016, will not be able to count on full-back Samuel Velásquez for this match, while defenders Felipe Aguirre and Andrés Román, and midfielder Néyder Moreno, are still recovering from their injuries.
Winger Joan Castro will miss the game due to his dismissal in Asuncion. Edier Ocampo is profiled as a starter, as is Paraguayan goalkeeper Santiago Rojas, the Venezuelan striker Eric Ramírez and the Uruguayan midfielder Pablo Cepellini.
“We are trying to change this situation as a group. There is a new coach, he has the trust of us. We have to work and wait for Wednesday’s game because these situations are not changed by talking, the situations are changed on the field,” said Ramírez.
The team led by Juan Pablo Pumpido arrived in Medellín to complete the task after taking the lead in the series with the score of striker Diego Duarte, a result that filled them with vigor to face the final clash and make history by eliminating a two-time champion of the Liberators.
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The Asunción Academy prioritized the international match and faced with an alternate team the duel against 2 Mayo in the local championship, in which they suffered a new setback over the weekendHe fell 2-0 at the Pedro Juan Caballero.
That result left the Barrio Obrero team in tenth place with five points, the product of one victory, two draws and four losses in six rounds of the Paraguayan championship.
Of his stellar roster, he only lined up from the start the goalkeeper Antony Silva, with a past in Colombian football, and the center back Claudio Núñez, while the defenders Brian Blasi and Daniel Rivas and the forward Rodrigo Arévalo played a few minutes in the second half to try Reverse the situation.
“We will approach the game as if it were 0-0,” commented Pumpido, who leans towards a defensive proposal in Medellín, since a draw will put his team in Phase 3 of the continental tournament.
“We are aware that it is a 180-minute game. We have to go to a difficult field, against a very difficult opponent to try to get another victory and if we can’t, a draw to assess the victory we had at home”, the coach told local media.
The winner of this series will face the winner of the key between the Chilean Palestino and the Venezuelan Portuguesa.
