Atlético-MG won again inside the Gigante da Pampulha, this time with calm, wisdom, and patience. Galo defeated Deportivo La Guaira of Venezuela, and strengthened their position as the club with the best overall campaign of the tournament’s group stage.
It was Atlético-MG second 4-0 win at home in the tournament, beating Cerro Porteo by the same score line in the previous fixture. The goals were scored by Savarino and Marrony in the first half and Hulk and Nathan in the second.
Atlético-MG thoroughly dominated the first 45 minutes, had the ball, offensive momentum, and the patience to locate openings in Deportivo La Guaira’s defence.
In the 28th minute, they finally got the lead. Hulk recovered the ball on the left from Guilherme Arana, but at arriving face to face with the goalkeeper, he squared for Savarino to tap into the empty net in solidarity.
The domination was even more apparent when the scoreboard read 1-0. La Guaira exposed themselves even further, and the Rooster seized the opportunity. The second goal was Nacho Fernandez’s to take, but instead Marrony scored in the 43rd minute, after he took advantage of his own rebound with Nacho’s help.
Five minutes after the break, Hulk produced a lovely ball for Nacho who placed his effort past goalie Olses with ease to make it 3 nil.
Galo slowed down after scoring and switched to a more relaxed style of play. Despite this, the home side still added to their goal tally. After several misses from the rest of the squad, Nathan put away Guilherme Arana’s fantastic cross, turning the victory into a thrashing.
The Rooster should only return to the Libertadores in the middle of July after playing the competition for six weeks in a row. They will make their Brasileirão debut against Fortaleza on Sunday, at Mineiro. On Wednesday, they will then face Remo in the Copa do Brasil.
