- The Uruguayan, who had been sent off in the Round of 16 second leg against Independiente Rivadavia and did not play the first leg against Platense, returned to the starting eleven and scored the goal that made it 3-2 on aggregate with Fluminense's first shot on target.
- According to Opta, it was his first goal in a knockout stage of the CONMEBOL Libertadores and his first goal involvement in a knockout round in three years.
"Yesterday I had to experience the game from a place where nobody wants to be. It's time to learn and move forward." Agustín Canobbio posted that message on social media on August 20, the day after the night in Mendoza: sent off in the 57th minute of the Round of 16 second leg against Independiente Rivadavia, he watched from the outside as Fluminense went ahead with ten men, conceded the equalizer in the seventh minute of stoppage time and went through on penalties with Fábio as the hero. Four weeks later, in Vicente López, the Uruguayan returned to the pitch in the second leg of the CONMEBOL Libertadores quarterfinals and, once again in the 57th minute, scored the goal that put the 'Flu' into the semifinals.
The coincidence of the minute is a detail; the context is what matters. Fluminense arrived at the Estadio Ciudad de Vicente López with the 2-0 from the Maracanã and went into the break with the tie level: Guido Mainero and Bruno Sepúlveda had put Platense 2-0 up, and the 'Flu' had not managed a shot on target in 45 minutes. Twelve minutes into the second half, a Platense mistake in midfield left the ball with Hulk, who led the counter through the middle and set up Canobbio. The forward cut inside in the box and finished with his right foot into the far corner past Juan Pablo Cozzani. Fluminense's first shot on target of the night, a goal, and 3-2 on aggregate. Platense won the match, but lost the tie.
Canobbio had not played the first leg. After the red card in Mendoza, Marcão built the team for the Maracanã with Kevin Serna on the flank, and it was only in Vicente López that the Uruguayan regained his place in the eleven, precisely in place of the Colombian. Between the sending-off and the goal, 27 days and a quarterfinal first leg watched from the outside went by.
Opta's data gives the goal a wider frame. It was Canobbio's first in a knockout stage of the CONMEBOL Libertadores and his first goal involvement in a knockout round of the competition in three years: the previous one had been an assist in the 2023 Round of 16, in an Athletico Paranaense shirt. And, with the one in Vicente López, it is the first time he has scored more than one goal in a single edition.
The road that brought him here is 27 years long. Born in Montevideo, he made his debut for Fénix at 17 and grew up at Peñarol, where he played 125 matches and won three titles between 2018 and 2024. He passed through Athletico Paranaense before Fluminense unveiled him in January 2025 with a contract through the end of 2028. In the Uruguay national team shirt he won the 2017 CONMEBOL South American U-20 Championship, played the 2024 Copa América and the 2022 and 2026 World Cups. "It's a very big step in my career," he said when he joined the 'Flu'. On Tuesday, in the competition the club won in 2023, he took the most important step of his season.
The goal was also a summary of a Fluminense side that, in this tie, made a habit of the first shot on target. At the Maracanã, their first two attempts were the goals by Nonato and Hulk; in Vicente López, it was Canobbio's. While Platense racked up 16 shots, the 'Flu' needed just seven to settle the tie, with 44.7% of possession.
For the club, the qualification also has a historical reading. Fluminense have won their last three knockout ties against Argentine teams in the CONMEBOL Libertadores, against Argentinos Juniors in the 2023 Round of 16, Independiente Rivadavia in this year's Round of 16 and now Platense, their longest current run against clubs from a single country. And Marcão, who had taken over in August with the team winless in eight matches, suffered his first defeat in seven games in charge of the 'Flu' on the very night he took them into the tournament's final four.
Canobbio, for his part, closes a circle he himself had described. In that August message, alongside the self-criticism, he had left a second line: "Proud of this team, which never stopped believing and fought until the end. We're in the quarterfinals. Let's go, Flu!" What he could not have known then was that the qualification for the next round would also bear his signature.
Fluminense now await the winner of Liga de Quito-Palmeiras in the semifinals. Canobbio goes into that tie with a debt settled: the one from Mendoza, where the match had slipped through his fingers, was paid off in Vicente López with the ball in the back of the net.
