Vasco opponent Santa Fe boast 41-year-old top scorer and ex-Vasco signing | OneFootball

Vasco will face Santa Fe in the Conmebol Sudamericana quarter-finals after the Colombians knocked out River Plate on Wednesday. According to Globo.com, the traditional club play their home matches in Bogotá, so a long trip awaits.

Hugo Rodallega, 41, is the standout and focal point. The former Bahia striker, in Brazil in 2021 and 2022, has 18 goals this season.

Santa Fe have also added Emerson Rodríguez, recently signed and familiar to Vasco fans. He spent 2024 at São Januário, making 21 appearances and scoring two goals.

In the Colombian league, Santa Fe are 13th with five points, though the campaign is still in its early stages. In the Apertura, they finished seventh, reached the playoffs and Junior Barranquilla took the title.

Their continental route began with a Libertadores group-stage exit, third behind Corinthians and Platense. That sent them into the Sudamericana playoffs, where they eliminated Caracas, before beating River Plate in the last 16.

Uruguayan coach Pablo Repetto is in charge, best known for leading Independiente Del Valle to the runners-up spot in the 2016 Libertadores. He has also managed Olimpia, LDU and Nacional, where he won domestic titles.

Santa Fe play at El Campín, due for a major rebuild in 2027 into a new 50,000-capacity arena with a retractable roof. The current capacity is 36,343, and there is an expectation the revamped venue could host Libertadores and Sudamericana finals.

Source: Globo.com

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”