La Plata paused only briefly before Estudiantes turned its attention back towards Rio de Janeiro. With a Copa Libertadores final place on the line at the Maracanã, coach Eduardo “Cacique” Medina used Sunday’s Argentine championship meeting with San Lorenzo to protect the core of his side, accepting a 2-1 home defeat with the bigger continental appointment in mind.
Only left-back Gaston Benedetti remained in the starting line-up from the team that drew 0-0 with Flamengo in Thursday’s semi-final first leg. Four more starters from that match — Eros Mancuso, Tiago Palacios, Baltasar Rodríguez and Guido Carrillo — appeared after the interval against San Lorenzo, while the rest of the line-up was reshaped for the domestic fixture.
The decision underlined where Estudiantes’ immediate priorities lie. Thursday’s return in Rio will determine whether the club can add another chapter to its formidable Libertadores history, with the tie still entirely open after the goalless contest in Argentina.
A familiar Libertadores weight in Rio
Flamengo and Estudiantes meet again at the Maracanã on Thursday, with the winner advancing to the final. Another draw after 90 minutes will send the semi-final directly to a penalty shootout.
The clubs arrive with remarkably similar overall records in South America’s leading club competition: each has lifted the Libertadores four times and finished runner-up once. Their routes to that total, however, belong to very different eras.
Estudiantes built its reputation through an extraordinary run at the end of the 1960s, winning three straight crowns in 1968, 1969 and 1970 before losing the following year’s final. Its fourth continental title did not arrive until 2009.
Flamengo’s first triumph came in 1981, followed by a long wait before a modern sequence of success. The Rio club won again in 2019, 2022 and 2025, while also reaching the final in 2021. Now, after holding Flamengo level in the opening match, Estudiantes travel north knowing a single victory would carry them back into the competition’s final.
