Fortaleza draws at the end and qualifies in the South American

This Tuesday, the 8th, Fortaleza received Libertad, in Castelão, for the second leg of the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana. In the first leg, in Paraguay, Leão do Pici was superior and got the victory, by 1 to 0, thanks to the goal scored by José Welison. On the way back, the tricolor needed just a simple draw to guarantee qualification to the quarterfinals of the competition.

However, who took the best at the beginning of the game were the visitors. Unrecognizable, Fortaleza proved to be a tense team that was unable to put the ball on the ground to build their moves. In this scenario, Libertad went for it, arrived several times with danger, until, finally, they managed to swing the nets in the 44th minute with the ball rolling.

Cardozo protected, the ball splashed towards Villalba at the edge of the area and the winger played for Espinoza, who, with his left hand, sent a kick to João Ricardo’s left corner, with no chances for the goalkeeper. At the end of the initial stage, the home team went down to the changing rooms amidst many boos from the tricolor crowd.

In the second half, Fortaleza improved but had a scare in the 20th minute, when the defense failed, Melgarejo crossed low from the left to Bareiro who, even free, kicked over the goal. But Leão responded in the 25th minute, when Marinho received it inside the area and, on the penalty mark, he finished it off with his bad leg and ended up hitting the post.

But the cry for a goal finally came out, in the 46th minute of the second stage, with a great goal by Marinho! The winger took a free-kick from the entrance to the area towards the goal, surprised the goalkeeper and hit Martín Silva in the corner, who stretched out and was unable to avoid the goal. 1 to 1 and Fortaleza classified!