Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã watched Flamengo negotiate a difficult route into the Copa Libertadores semi-finals, drawing 1-1 with Ecuador’s Independiente del Valle despite playing the closing stretch with 10 men. Giorgian de Arrascaeta again supplied the defining intervention, scoring the goal that preserved the Brazilian side’s progress.
Leonardo Jardim’s team had been placed under real pressure when Jorginho was dismissed after receiving a second yellow card with almost half an hour still to play. Flamengo then withdrew into a more cautious shape as Independiente del Valle pushed forward, looking for the goal that could have changed the tie.
Arrascaeta, Flamengo’s Uruguayan No. 10, had already delivered the moment that steadied the home side. He ran beyond Quintana after a long ball from goalkeeper Agustín Rossi, reached it before the defence and took advantage of the opposing goalkeeper’s misjudgement to head into an open net.
The strike was viewed in Spain as further evidence of Arrascaeta’s standing among the continent’s leading match-winners, with the midfielder praised as South America’s most decisive player. His speed in reading Rossi’s pass and his run behind the visitors’ back line extinguished Independiente del Valle’s remaining momentum.
Argentine opposition awaits
Flamengo will now meet Estudiantes of Argentina in the Libertadores semi-finals, taking the Rio club one step closer to another continental final.
