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Four things we learnt from Gremio’s win in Copa Libertadores

By Amanda PaulaPosted on Posted in Copa Libertadores

In their last match, Grêmio visited Barcelona at the Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo Stadium in the first leg of semi-finals clash of Copa Libertadores and got a 3-0 over them.

Luan scored twice and Edilson once. The first goal came through Luan after only seven minutes, after a big deflection off of the Barcelona’s defence; the Brazilian took an advantage to open the scoreline.

The second came through a superb Edilson’s free-kick into the Banguera’s corner. In addition, Luan once again finished well to finalise the match and gave the victory to Portaluppi’s side.

What Grêmio did in Ecuador was something extraordinary. They put one foot into the finals and thus, Monumental Stadium was silent. Grêmio have not gone to the Copa Libertadores final since their 4-0 loss to Boca Juniors ten years ago at the former Olimpico Stadium in Porto Alegre. Besides that, the player who led their first Libertadores title in 1983 is the same man who is coaching the Grêmio’s side today, Renato Portaluppi

Be as it may, I picked four things we learnt after Grêmio’s 3-0 victory over Barcelona.

Luan is a different player

We always have the same conversation that Luan is our best player playing in Brazil since that Gabriel Jesus to join the Manchester City.

On Wednesday night, he had proved it one more time. Not only because he scored twice, but, also because he tried to change the game taking the ball and pushing in all regions of the pitch and helped to create good chances in the 90 minutes.

Moreover, not only in the semi-finals, he has proved himself since 2015. Though, this year he has shown that he could be a great player to have in the biggest teams in Europe. If he does lead his side to glory, Luan will surely be at a European side soon.

Marcelo Grohe is a great goalkeeper

The greatest problem the Brazil’s National Team are facing is that they do have good players as Gabriel Jesus, Neymar and Coutinho. However, they do not have a good goalkeeper who shows confidence in the net. This is something that has been wildly discussed.

However, it’s curious if you look in Campeonato Brasileiro, you will search some good keepers like Vanderlei from Santos. Marcelo Grohe is one of them who deserved to be in the seleção, especially because he was the third keeper a few years ago.

Nonetheless, this time he really should be in the 11. The sensational save that he did against Barcelona de Guayaquil just showed it. If you have not looked yet, please, watch this save, this could make you change your mind about Brazil not having good players in this position.

Grêmio do have a mature team

Look, the Barcelona are the most popular club in Ecuador. They were able to put more than 50.000 fans in their arena, according to the Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora. Even so, Grêmio won the match to 3-0, playing and impressing the fans and the media.

The scoreboard surprised even the fans. Grêmio could be managed their emotions to show a good footballing away performance. In addition, if you say that the Tricolor Gaúcho did not deserve a victory, you might have seen another match.

From 2005 until 2013, Brazil had nine straight years being represented by Brazilian clubs in the Libertadores’ finals; however, since then they did not have any team playing in the final clash. Grêmio have the biggest opportunity to be the first.

Renato Portaluppi has done a great job ahead the Tricolor Gaucho

As I said before, Renato Portaluppi is the person who led Grêmio for its first Libertadores’ Title. In case if you do not know, Grêmio have two Libertadores’ trophies. Firstly in 1983 and secondly in 1995 under Luis Felipe Scolari.

By the way, Renato is one of the most important players in the Grêmio history. He was the Copa Libertadores winner, Toyota Cup winner after beating Hamburg and and The Rio Grande do Sul’s Championship State as well.

But coaching the Tricolor’s side led them to a second place in the Campeonato Brasileiro in 2013 and won the Piratini Cup in 2011 and the Copa do Brasil last year was a huge achievement.

Before then, Grêmio had not lifted an important national trophy since 2001, when they had won this same tournament with a youngster called Ronaldinho.

With the second straight year ahead of the club from South, he is doing a great job in the Brasileirão, they are 4th in the standings and have a better chance to go to the Libertadores’ final.

Many people would not think that Renato could lead a great club due to his behaviour. In February of 2017, he told to Espn Brasil that he played better than Cristiano Ronaldo, besides the fact that Portaluppi was also known as a typical womaniser who doesn’t like to study tactics and just wants to play football or foot-volley in Copacabana.

Nevertheless, he has proved that even without much hard working, he does have a good tactical understanding and is managing the side well.

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