Knocked out! Botafogo lose to Barcelona, out of the 2026 Libertadores | OneFootball

Botafogo knocked out in the preliminary phase of the Libertadores and will not play in the group stage

The dream that never even began is over for Botafogo! Even before the group stage of the Libertadores, the rival has been eliminated from the competition. This Tuesday (10), the team from Rio lost to Barcelona de Guayaquil (ECU) at Engenhão, 1-0, in a match valid for the tournament’s third preliminary round.

Since the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw in Ecuador, Barcelona advances to the group stage of the competition and will be in pot 4 for the group draw. Therefore, they have a chance of being drawn as an opponent of Flamengo, who will be the top seed in Group A.

HOW WAS THE MATCH?

Playing at home on the artificial turf of Nilton Santos, Botafogo went on the attack from the start, having more possession and creating the best chances. However, Barcelona was more objective and managed to open the scoring.

In a beautiful play down the left side, Tomás Martinez found Milton Céliz unmarked at the edge of the box. With his left foot, the Barcelona player fired a rocket and opened the scoring for the visitors, seven minutes into the first half.

Afterwards, Barcelona embodied the ‘Libertadores spirit’. With a lot of defensive play, time-wasting, and gamesmanship, the Ecuadorians managed to irritate Botafogo fans and players, who could not equalize the match at Engenhão.

WHEN WILL THE COPA LIBERTADORES DA AMÉRICA DRAW TAKE PLACE?

With Barcelona in the group stage, the draw for the Libertadores groups will take place on March 19, at the Conmebol headquarters in Luque, Paraguay. The event will start at 8 p.m. (Brasília time), with full coverage by Coluna do Fla.

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