With an all-reserve team, Fluminense felt the difficulty of the altitude and lost to The Strongest, which put an end to the tricolor invincibility in Libertadores
This Thursday, the 25th, Fluminense went to La Paz to face The Strongest in the Libertadores group stage. Leader of group D, with nine points, Fernando Diniz opted to take to the field a completely reserve team, in order to give his main players a rest, but the bold choice ended up resulting in the first defeat of the cariocas in the continental tournament.
As if the lack of rapport and the altitude of 3625 meters were not enough problems, Fluminense saw the opponents open the scoring after four minutes of the ball rolling. After a low corner kick, Triverio arrived hitting, at first, to surprise goalkeeper Fábio and send the ball into the back of the net. 1 to 0!
In the rest of the first stage, The Strongest just didn’t expand thanks to the great performance of the goalkeeper, who made great defenses. At 14 and 35, Fábio saved Fluminense in two shots by Ortega. In stoppage time, Quiroga took a perfect free-kick, but saw the tricolor goalkeeper go get the ball in the corner to avoid the second goal of the Bolivians.
In the second half, Diniz even put some starters on the field, but the changes didn’t have much effect. The best chance of scoring in the second stage again belonged to the Bolivian team, but this time it was the crossbar that saved Fluminense. At 22 minutes, in a counterattack, Sotomayor left completely alone, facing Fábio, but ended up stamping the post.
In the last few minutes, The Strongest twice arrived with danger, but Fábio, inspired by the day, made two more great saves and avoided the Bolivians’ goal. Already in the additions, Arrascaita crossed low and Castillo from close range, ended up sending the ball in the crossbar, losing the goal in an unbelievable way. Final score: 1-0 for The Strongest!
Source: sportbuzz
I am William Jackson and I have a passion for sports journalism. With over 3 years of experience in the industry, I have worked in a variety of roles to improve the quality and accuracy of sports news coverage. As an author at Athletistic, I specialize in covering football news and providing comprehensive analysis for fans around the world.
