by This Wednesday, March 15, Deportivo Independiente Medellín defeated Magallanes from Chile at the Atanasio Girardot stadium for the third phase of the Copa Libertadores and qualified for the group phase (formerly the first phase) of the most important club tournament in the world. American continent.
El Mighty managed to overcome its two previous phases, eliminating El Nacional from Ecuador and the previously mentioned Magallanes, and may be in the draw next Monday, March 27, in which the eight groups of the desired Copa Libertadores de América will be defined.
And it is that something that has called a lot the classification of Medellín is that the draw could bring a hypothetical classic paisa in the group stage of the Libertadores. Since DIM enters pot four, it could fall into the same group as Atlético Nacional.
Without a doubt, the mere idea of Nacional and Medellín sharing a group in the Copa Libertadores arouses a lot of curiosity and curiosity, since the Antioquia classic has never taken place in the most crucial club tournament on the continent.
However, many say that it would not be convenient, since they consider that it is better for the Colombian teams to be in different groups so they have a better chance of qualifying, without playing against each other.
Although many thought that this crossing between the two Antioquia teams could not take place because they belonged to the same country, it is worth remembering that this restriction, of not leaving teams from the same country in the same group by Conmebol, applies to all the teams, except for those who arrive from the previous phases, as the Powerful of the Mountain did.
Case different from that of the Copa Sudamericana, in which the restriction does exist for all teams, regardless of the way in which they have reached the group stage. Due to the above, Millonarios, who reached this cup after being eliminated from the Libertadores, will not be able to share a group with Independiente Santa Fe and Deportes Tolima.
This Wednesday, March 15, was an extremely important day for Colombian Professional Soccer. Two of its most valuable representatives were fighting for qualification to the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, Independiente Medellín at home against Magallanes from Chile, while Millonarios did so at almost the same time against the tough Atlético Mineiro in Brazil.
Both teams, taking into account the greatness of the stories they represented and did not seek to stay so close to the possibility of advancing in the round. About 7:00 p.m. m, in the Atanasio Girardot, the powerful group saw in the international contest the opportunity to get rid of negative results in the local league and get the long-awaited move to the next instance, after having drawn 1-1 in the first leg.
With that intention to succeed, coach David González made the best men available and was lucky that his scorer, Luciano Pons, was in a state of grace. The Argentine who renewed his relationship with the Paisa team at the beginning of this year was alone on the attack front, feeling there at ease to move in front of the rival goal and whoever he had, to be able to send it to the goal as in 15 ‘and 39’.
In addition to representing maximum joy for Pons scoring those two goals and helping his team, he rescued a record that had not been achieved by a foreign player wearing the Mighty shirt for 56 years. According to the renowned statistician MisterChip, the man marked with the 9 shirt equaled what was done by his compatriot Perfecto Rodríguez being so far the only non-Colombian player to score a double in the Copa Libertadores.
