Inter beat Nacional in Uruguay and take second place in the group in the Libertadores

Inter is still alive in the Libertadores. This Thursday (15), Colorado beat Nacional, in Uruguay, by 2 to 0, and took over second place in Group F. Coach Roger Machado bet on Ricardo Mathias as a starter and the youngster opened the scoring at the Gran Parque Central Stadium, in the 5th round of the group stage. In the match's injury time, Aguirre took advantage of a counterattack and, without a goalkeeper, confirmed the victory in Montevideo.

In this way, Inter achieved its second victory in Group F of the Libertadores and depends only on its strength in the last round to confirm its classification. Colorado has eight points, one less than Atlético Nacional, who beat Bahia in the opening of this 5th round. Bahia has stopped at seven points and dropped to third place. On the other hand, Nacional remains at the bottom with four points.

For Thursday's game, Roger Machado maintained the same three-man defensive midfielder scheme as in the last few matches, but made a change in attack: he took off Lucca and put Ricardo Mathias as center forward. The strategy worked and the team took second place in Group F of the Libertadores.

The game

In the first minute, Nico López scored, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Inter adopted a more cautious approach, which made the game lukewarm. The first good chance for Colorado came on the counterattack. Wesley found Alan Patrick on the left. The number 10 shot hard, but Mejía made a good save. After that, the game cooled down. It wasn't until the 40th minute that another dangerous move arose. Wesley crossed for Thiago Maia's head, who scored. But once again the goal was disallowed for offside.

Furthermore, before the break, Wesley appeared again, this time on the right. He passed to Aguirre, who crossed low for Ricardo Mathias to anticipate his marker and open the scoring for Inter.

Nacional returned from the break with changes to the team, but it was Inter who created danger with two chances from Ricardo Mathias. The home team responded in the ninth minute, when Nico López made a good individual play and hit the crossbar. Nacional put pressure on Inter and pushed the Brazilians back into their own half. However, Colorado, on the counterattacks, created a lot of danger with Bernabéi and Gustavo Prado. In injury time, Otero hit the crossbar with a free kick. However, when the score seemed decided, Aguirre dribbled past the goalkeeper in midfield and had an empty net to confirm the victory.

NATIONAL-URU 0X2 INTER

5th round of the Libertadores group stage

Date and time: 05/14/2025, at 7:00 pm (Brasília time).

Location: Gran Parque Central Stadium, in Montevideo (URU).

NATIONAL-URU: Mejia; Morales, Coates (Calione, at 37′ of the 1st half), Millán and Gabriel Báez (Herazo, at 23′ of the 2nd half); Oliva, Boggio (Otero, at 29′ of the 2nd half), Villalba, Mauricio Pereyra (Petit, at half-time) and Diego Romero (Recoba, at half-time); Nico López. Coach: Pablo Peirano.

INTERNATIONAL: Anthoni; Aguirre, Vitão, Victor Gabriel (Juninho, at 16′ of the 2nd half) and Bernabei; Fernando and Thiago Maia (Ronaldo, at 7′ of the 2nd half); Bruno Henrique (Gustavo Prado, at 16′ of the 2nd half), Alan Patrick and Wesley (Lucca, at 27′ of the 2nd half); Ricardo Mathias (Bruno Tabata, at 16′ of the 2nd half). Coach: Roger Machado.

Goals: Ricardo Mathias, 44' of the 1st half (0-1); Aguirre, 50' of the 2nd half (0-2).

Referee: Piero Maza (CHI).

Assistants: Claudio Urrutia (CHI) and Alejandro Molina (CHI).

VAR: Carlos Urbe (EQU).

Yellow cards: Victor Gabriel (INT).

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