Seven years on, Cruzeiro return to Ecuador in the Libertadores | OneFootball

After seven years away from the Copa Libertadores de América, Cruzeiro is back in search of its third title. Despite a difficult situation in the Brazilian league, where it sits 19th, the club will try to “turn the page” and put in a strong performance in the group stage of the competition, from which it has never been eliminated.

The team will take the field this Tuesday (7) at 9 p.m. (Brasília time) at the Monumental Banco Pichincha in Ecuador to face Barcelona. The match marks the team’s return to Ecuador for Libertadores games. In 2019, the year it last played in the tournament, Raposa traveled to face Emelec at George Capwell Stadium in Guayaquil and won 1-0. On that occasion, Rodriguinho scored the goal.

The team has some holdovers who were on the field in that match, such as Lucas Silva, who was on the bench, and Fabrício Bruno, who came on in the final stretch in place of Marquinhos Gabriel and helped preserve the result. Lucas Romero, who started that match, is out due to thigh pain. The expectation is that both Fabrício Bruno and Lucas Silva, now two leaders of the current squad, will start.

Favorable record against Ecuadorian teams

Throughout its history, Cruzeiro has played 16 matches against teams from Ecuador. El Nacional (4) and Emelec (4) are the teams that have faced Raposa the most. Overall, Cruzeiro has nine wins, four draws, and three losses. The last opponent the club faced was Mushuc Runa in last year’s Copa Sudamericana. Under Leonardo Jardim, Cruzeiro was defeated 2-1 at Mineirão and drew 1-1 in Ecuador.

The clash against Barcelona-ECU will be the first ever between the teams. The match is valid for the first round of Group D.

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