- The Ecuadorian side beat Deportes Tolima 3-1 at the Banco Guayaquil with goals from Daykol Romero, Carlos González and Matías Perello, closing out the tie 4-1 on aggregate — a week later than planned due to the earthquake that forced the first leg to be rescheduled.
- Joaquín Papa's team will face Flamengo, the defending CONMEBOL Libertadores champions, in the quarterfinals.
Independiente del Valle are through to the CONMEBOL Libertadores quarterfinals. At the Estadio Banco Guayaquil, the Ecuadorian side beat Deportes Tolima 3-1 to seal a 4-1 aggregate and close out — a week later than planned because of the rescheduling forced by the earthquake in Colombia — the tie they had steered in their favor in Ibagué. The prize is enormous: a clash with Flamengo, the defending champions, for a place among South America's final four.
The match had an unexpected protagonist: Daykol Romero. The defender opened the scoring 14 minutes into the second half, alert to poke home from the six-yard box after a series of rebounds from a free kick delivered from the right by captain Junior Sornoza. And on 70 minutes he reinvented himself as a provider with a pass from another match entirely: from his own box, he launched the ball that sent Carlos 'Cocoliso' González one-on-one; the striker ran into the area and finished low across goal with his left foot for the 2-0 that settled the story.
Until those blows, the pattern had repeated the script of the first leg: Tolima with the ball and the momentum, Independiente del Valle in control of what mattered. Joaquín Papa's side were sharper in both boxes and only suffered once the tie was already decided: 39 minutes into the second half, Junior Hernández unleashed a strike from the left, between midfield and the box, that flew into the top left corner — a stunner that served as a farewell with class. But the final word belonged to the hosts, and it came from the bench: in the very last second, Ronald Briones set up Matías Perello, who ran into the area and finished right-footed for the definitive 3-1. Two substitutes combining for the full stop — another snapshot of the 'factory's' squad depth.
For González, the goal tasted like confirmation: the striker signed from Newell's in February keeps adding to his tally in his first Libertadores, the same one that already saw him score a hat-trick of headers against Libertad. And for the team, the tie as a whole confirmed their solidity: they had been the only winners among the eight first legs of this Round of 16, through Arón Rodríguez's goal in Ibagué, and in the return they never allowed Tolima to turn their push into football.
Tolima, who had produced a commendable group stage, bow out with the feeling of having run into the same wall twice: across 180 minutes they could never break the order of the side from Sangolquí, and Hernández's stunner arrived when the ticket already had an owner.
Independiente del Valle, meanwhile, set out to grow their legend as devourers of the continent's heavyweights: the ultimate challenge now awaits in Flamengo, the defending champions, in a quarterfinal full of promise. The 'giant-slayer' nickname is no piece of folklore whimsy: IDV earned it on the strength of illustrious victims. In their first great continental epic, the 2016 Copa Libertadores, they eliminated River Plate and Boca Juniors in the same campaign before falling to Atlético Nacional in the final. Then they turned the habit into silverware: the 2019 Sudamericana, with a 3-1 win over Colón in Asunción; the 2022 Sudamericana, with a 2-0 victory over São Paulo in Córdoba; and the 2023 Recopa, won on penalties against Flamengo at the Maracanã itself.
That is why the quarterfinal clash carries an added edge: the club from Sangolquí already know what it is to look the Rio giants in the eye and send them home empty-handed in their own house. If this tie proved anything, it is that the label of uncomfortable contender does not weigh on this team: they impose their terms, just as their coach demands, on any pitch and against anyone.
Match facts:
● Independiente del Valle have qualified for the CONMEBOL Libertadores quarterfinals for the second time; the first was in the 2016 edition. The two occasions on which they failed to get past this stage of the competition came against Nacional in 2020 and Deportivo Pereira in 2023.
● Carlos González is the first Independiente del Valle player to score at least seven goals in a single edition of a CONMEBOL tournament (7).
● Daykol Romero (Independiente del Valle) scored his first goal in CONMEBOL tournaments, having previously played 21 matches in these competitions for Liga de Quito (4), Universidad Católica (10) and IDV (7).
● Independiente del Valle are the team with the highest average of shots per match in the current CONMEBOL Libertadores (20.1). However, today against Tolima they produced their lowest number of attempts at home in the competition this year (20).
● Junior Hernández's goal at 83:41 is Tolima's second-latest goal in a match outside the group stage in the CONMEBOL Libertadores. It is surpassed only by Juan Torres' goal at 86:34 against O'Higgins in this year's qualifying round.
● Independiente del Valle did not allow Tolima a single shot on target in the first half. Counting from 2013, it is the first time an Ecuadorian team has conceded no attempts on goal to 'Los Pijaos' in the first half of a CONMEBOL tournament match.
