- The 'Calamar' overturned the 0-2 from the first leg with goals from Guido Mainero and Bruno Sepúlveda in the first half, but Agustín Canobbio scored in the second and the aggregate finished 3-2 to the 'Flu'.
- Hulk, who assisted the decisive goal, was involved in all three of Fluminense's goals in the tie; Fábio held the Rio side together through a finale of relentless crosses into his box.
For 45 minutes, Platense had the tie in their hands. Martín Palermo's side came out to play the second leg of the CONMEBOL Libertadores quarterfinals as if the 0-2 at the Maracanã had never happened, leveled the tie before the break and were one goal away from reaching the semifinals. But Fluminense, who had not managed a shot on target in the first half, found with their first attempt the goal that was worth a tie. Platense won 2-1 at the Estadio Ciudad de Vicente López; Fluminense went through, 3-2 on aggregate.
The 'Calamar' pushed from the start. With three changes from the first leg and Guido Mainero as their leader on the pitch, they controlled the ball and kept coming until they opened the scoring in the 29th minute of the first half. Mainero built the move himself, picked up a rebound and struck hard with his right foot; a deflection off Hércules helped wrong-foot the 'Flu's' veteran goalkeeper, Fábio. The second came in first-half stoppage time and had the same protagonist, this time as the provider: a perfect cross from the right to the far post and a free header from Bruno Sepúlveda for 2-0. At halftime, Platense had ten shots to two and four on target to none.
Fluminense needed just twelve minutes of the second half to change everything. A Platense error in possession in midfield left the ball with Hulk, who led the counter through the middle and set up Agustín Canobbio with his left foot; the Uruguayan, back in the team, cut inside in the box and finished with his right foot into the far corner past Juan Pablo Cozzani. It was the 'Flu's' first shot on target of the night and it put the tie back in Brazilian hands: 3-2 on aggregate.
What followed was a siege. Palermo sent on Franco Zapiola and Juan Gauto; Marcão responded with Kevin Serna, Lucho Acosta and, late on, three more substitutions to protect the result. Platense finished with 16 shots to seven, pinned Fluminense back in their own box and went at them with cross after cross, but could not beat Fábio, 45, or a defense that, led by Thiago Silva, cleared everything that came its way. The final whistle found the 'Calamar' winning the match and losing the tie.
For Platense, who were playing the first CONMEBOL Libertadores in their history and had already knocked out Coquimbo Unido on penalties, the farewell comes with the feeling of having been one goal away from a famous upset: they could have become the eighth Argentine team to turn around a tie in the competition after losing the first leg away by two or more goals. For Fluminense, the tie left one name above the rest: Hulk, at 40, was involved in all three of the 'Flu's' goals over the 180 minutes, with the assist for Nonato and his own goal at the Maracanã and the pass to Canobbio in Vicente López.
Fluminense will now await their opponent in the next round, which will come from the tie between Liga de Quito and Palmeiras. The São Paulo side won the first leg 1-0 and the tie now moves to Ecuador.
The match in numbers:
- Fluminense have won their last three knockout ties (excluding finals) against Argentine teams in the CONMEBOL Libertadores, their longest current run against clubs from a single country: vs. Argentinos Juniors in the 2023 Round of 16, vs. Independiente Rivadavia in the 2026 Round of 16, and vs. Platense today.
- Platense scored two goals in a first half of a CONMEBOL competition match for the first time. They are also the first team to score twice against the Flu in a first half of the CONMEBOL Libertadores since Olimpia in 2013 (also two, and in the quarterfinals).
- Since 2022, only three teams have left Fluminense with a lower share of possession in a CONMEBOL Libertadores match than Platense did today (44.7%): Olimpia in March 2022 (36.7%), Colo-Colo in May 2024 (37.8%) and Atlético Mineiro in September 2024 (33.5%).
- Bruno Sepúlveda's header was Platense's sixth headed goal in the 2026 CONMEBOL Libertadores. Across the tournament, only Independiente del Valle have scored more with their heads (8).
- Guido Mainero became the first Platense player to contribute more than one goal and more than one assist in the history of the CONMEBOL Libertadores, adding his second goal and his third assist in the tournament against Fluminense.
- Agustín Canobbio scored his first goal in a knockout stage of the CONMEBOL Libertadores, and it is his first goal involvement in such a round in three years, since an assist in the 2023 Round of 16 with Athletico Paranaense. It is also the first time he has scored more than one goal in a single edition of the tournament.
