Despite the early goal, Belgrano could not hold on to its advantage and fell 2-1 as a visitor to Athletico Paranaense of Brazil, in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana. With Franco Jara’s goal in the minute, the “Pirata” took the lead, but first Erick, in the 41st minute of the same period, and then Christian, in the 17th minute of the second half, ruined the night for Belgrano and now they will have to seek qualification as a local on Thursday, August 22 in Argentina.
One minute into the match, in the first dangerous play, Juan Velázquez sent a long cross from the left that Jara managed to head in, despite weak marking by the Brazilian defenders, giving Belgrano the lead. But near the end of the first half, Lucas Esquivel sent in a great cross also from the left, like Velázquez, and Erick got between the centre-backs with a strong header to beat Ignacio Chicco for the 1-1.
In the second half, the match remained even but without any clear chances to win until another cross from Esquivel fell into the Belgrano area and Christian headed the ball in to seal the 2-1 victory for the Brazilians. But a few minutes later, Belgrano fought for a ball from the middle of the field and, faced with a weak response from the rival defense, the recently substituted Reyna scored the 2-2 for the Cordoba team. However, it was disallowed due to a previous foul by Pablo Chavarría.
