Rios football club Fluminense will face Boca Juniors in the semifinal of the Libertadores Cup on Wednesday evening, in an attempt to become the first Brazilian team to beat the Argentine club in the competition in 45 years.
The last time a club from Brazil overcame Boca in the Libertadores was in 1963, when Santos had the help of legendary forward Pele to defeat the adversary in continental championships final. Since then, the Argentines have won the 12 games it played against Brazilians in the competition.
"Those figures do not frighten us," said Fluminenses head coach Renato Gaucho. "We respect Boca Juniors for its tradition and for the team it has, but they had never faced Fluminense and, thus, the club I manage is not part of this statistics."
Indeed, under Gauchos command, Fluminense has been defying its own history. Last year, the team won the Brazil Cup, getting its first national title in 23 years, and qualifying for this year's Libertadores.
After being drawn for the so-called group of death in the tournament, Fluminense had the best performance of the Libertadores preliminaries, defeating clubs like Argentinas Arsenal de Sarandi and Ecuadors LDU Quito.
In the first game of the Cup's semifinal round last week, Fluminense and Boca tied 2-2 in Buenos Aires. In the rematch in Rios Maracana Stadium, the hosts will have to win or tie (0-0 or 1-1) to be in the finals against LDU.
Fluminense:
Goalkeeper Fernando Henrique; defenders Gabriel, Thiago Silva, Luiz Alberto and Junior Cesar; midfielders Ygor, Arouca, Conca, Thiago Neves and Cicero; forward Washington.
Boca Juniors:
Goalkeeper Migliore; defenders Ibarra, Caceres, Paletta and Claudio Rodriguez; midfielders Vargas, Battaglia, Datolo and Riquelme; forwards Palacios and Palermo.
Source:Xinhua
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