Team effort puts Galo trio top of the scoring charts | OneFootball

Galo has three of its main attacking players at the top of the scoring charts this season. And on the night Atlético needed its forwards the most, Cuello, Reinier, and Bernard stepped up to score the team’s four goals in a 4-2 win over Santos in the Copa Sudamericana.

The path to the semifinal began with Bernard after 17 seconds, and Reinier took center stage with two goals still in the first half. When the match was heading into its final minutes and Santos still held the advantage on aggregate, Cuello rose to score with a header and send the tie to penalties.

The result also reshaped Atlético’s scoring chart in 2026. Cuello and Reinier both reached nine goals and now share the lead among Galo’s top scorers this year. Bernard, meanwhile, moved up to seven goals and took over as the team’s second-highest scorer.

More than the individual numbers, the night at Arena MRV showed the strength of an Atlético side capable of creating the conditions for its difference-makers to deliver.

Reinier and Cuello at the top

With the two goals scored against Santos, Reinier reached nine goals this season. The forward played a decisive role in the comeback, finding the net in the 19th and 40th minutes of the first half.

For the first goal, Reinier received a pass from Fred and finished to level the tie on aggregate. For the second, he took advantage of a beautifully worked Galo move, with a pass from Renan Lodi, to score again and put Atlético ahead 3-1 before halftime.

Cuello also reached nine goals this year. The forward scored the most important goal in the closing stretch of the match: in the 46th minute of the second half, he met a cross from Castaño and headed home to make it 4-2.

The goal leveled the tie at 4-4 on aggregate and sent the decision to penalties.

Bernard extends historic mark

Bernard also got on the scoresheet on qualification night. And right at the start.

After 17 seconds, the No. 11 received a pass from Fred and opened the scoring at Arena MRV. The goal set a new record for the fastest goal in the stadium’s history and also extended a special mark for the forward in the continental competition.

With the goal against Santos, Bernard reached seven goals for Atlético in the Copa Sudamericana, becoming Galo’s all-time top scorer in the tournament.

This season, the forward also reached seven goals and moved into second place on Atlético’s scoring chart in 2026.

The team creates, the finishers deliver

All four of Galo’s goals against Santos came from moves directly built by different players.

Fred was involved in the first two goals: he provided the assist for Bernard to open the scoring and also found Reinier for Atlético’s second. Renan Lodi supplied the pass that set Reinier up to score his second. Castaño then sent the ball into the box for Cuello to complete the comeback.

The sequence reinforces an important trait of Atlético: collective strength as the starting point for individual match-winning quality.

The team needed to score four times to take the tie to penalties. And it found the answers in three players who, throughout the season, have played an important role in the team’s attacking output.

The collective effort created the spaces, the passes found their targets, and the forwards did what is expected of them in decisive moments: they put the ball in the net.

Numbers that tell the story of the season

With the update after the match against Santos, Galo now has two players with nine goals and another with seven among the team’s top scorers in 2026:

In the Copa Sudamericana, Bernard also reached seven goals for Atlético, cementing himself as the club’s all-time top scorer in the competition.

So the night of qualification carried the weight of a comeback, but it also reinforced something the season’s numbers had already been showing: Galo has different players capable of deciding matches.

When the team finds the way to goal, Cuello, Reinier, and Bernard have shown they can turn those chances into numbers — and, on the night against Santos, into a place in the Copa Sudamericana semifinals.

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