Bahia up against it in Libertadores, recent international form poor | OneFootball

Bahia started its journey in the 2026 Libertadores on the wrong foot. This Wednesday, the Tricolor de Aço was defeated 1-0 by O’Higgins-CHI in the first leg of the second phase of the Pre-Libertadores. To turn the tie around, Rogério Ceni’s team will have to overcome a terrible recent record on the international stage: in the last six games, five losses and one draw. 

In the last three rounds of the 2025 Libertadores group stage, Bahia suffered three defeats (against Internacional, Nacional-URU, and Atlético Nacional-COL) and was eliminated. In the same year, in the Sudamericana, they drew one match and lost another to América de Cali-COL, also being knocked out of the tournament. 

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Photos: Rafael Rodrigues / EC Bahia

Drop in performance

In 2025, Bahia played 13 international matches, in both the Libertadores and Sudamericana. The Tricolor de Aço had a great start in the preliminary phase, knocking out The Strongest-BOL and Boston River-URU, and then went on to earn seven points in the first three rounds of the group stage. 

However, after this good run, Bahia did not win any more international matches and suffered eliminations in both the Libertadores and Sudamericana. 

With Wednesday’s result, Bahia goes into the second leg needing to win by two or more goals to advance straight to the next phase. On the other hand, O’Higgins only needs a draw to stay alive. 

The teams will face each other again next Wednesday, when they play the second leg of the second round of the Pre-Libertadores. The match kicks off at 7 p.m. at Arena Fonte Nova, in Salvador. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.