Reinaldo scores twice as Grêmio comes from behind to beat Fluminense in the first leg of the Libertadores

Grêmio beat Fluminense 2-1 this Tuesday (13) in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores. At the Couto Pereira Stadium in Curitiba, Lima opened the scoring for Fluminense in the second half and Reinaldo equalized for Grêmio from the penalty spot. At 31, Reinaldo appeared again, this time from a free kick, to turn the game around.

At the end of the game, in the 38th minute, Grêmio defender Rodrigo Ely was sent off for assaulting Ganso. But, even with one less player, Grêmio managed to maintain the result.

With the victory, Grêmio will go to Rio de Janeiro next week with an advantage. Now the Immortal only needs a draw in the return leg to guarantee qualification to the quarterfinals. Fluminense, on the other hand, needs to win by two goals or more. If the Tricolor from Rio wins by one goal, the spot will be decided on penalties.

Upcoming games

The second leg of the round of 16 of the Libertadores will be next Tuesday (20), at Maracanã, in Rio de Janeiro.

Before that, the teams have commitments in the Brazilian Championship. Fluminense faces Corinthians, on Saturday (17), at home, at Maracanã. Also on Saturday (17), Grêmio faces Bahia at Alfredo Jaconi Stadium, in Caxias do Sul.

The game

With temperatures reaching eight degrees in Curitiba, the first half between Grêmio and Fluminense took a while to heat up. Both teams managed to create chances, but the first few minutes of the game saw no clear goal chances.

It wasn’t until the 23rd minute that Fluminense had their first good chance. Samuel Xavier took a low free kick into the box, and Arias appeared free to strike first time. Rodrigo Ely cleared the ball off the line and prevented the goal.

Grêmio responded shortly after. Pavón fired a shot from outside the area, but the ball went wide. From then on, the Immortal began to have more possession of the ball and finish more. Dodi, Soteldo and João Pedro had chances to open the scoring, but the game went into half-time at 0-0.

In the second half, the score did not remain zero for long. In the 12th minute, Ganso crossed perfectly for Lima who volleyed it in to open the scoring. The midfielder had just entered the game, replacing Keno who felt pain in the 10th minute.

Grêmio started to press in search of an equalizer and the pressure paid off in the 25th minute. The referee awarded a penalty to Esquerdinha for handball after a cross from Soteldo. Reinaldo stepped up to take the penalty and converted with a bomb into the corner to tie the match.

Renato Gaúcho’s team continued to press and, at 31, managed to turn the game around with another goal from Reinaldo, this time from a free kick.

During a corner kick, Ganso fell to the ground complaining about a foul by Rodrigo Ely outside the dispute for the ball. After review in the VAR booth, the referee sent off the Grêmio defender for assault.

With one less player in the final minutes, Grêmio closed in as best they could and held on to the result, securing the 2-1 win and an advantage on the scoreboard for the return leg.

Parish?

With this result in the Libertadores, Grêmio reached  eight consecutive victories  over Fluminense. The Tricolor from Rio has not known what it is like to beat the Immortal since 2019.

Of these eight matches, seven were in the  Brazilian Championship  and only one had a more elastic score, 3-2. All the others ended 1-0 or 2-1 for Grêmio.