Atletico Mineiro (Brazil) vs Lanus (Argentina)
With a 62nd-minute goal from Rodrigo Castillo, Lanús defeated Universidad de Chile 1-0 at home in a very evenly matched game and secured a 3-2 aggregate victory to reach the Copa Sudamericana final for the third time (champions in 2013 and runners-up in 2020). Last weekend, the team beat Atlético Tucumán 3-1 at home to close out their participation in the group stage of the Torneo Clausura, finishing second in Group B with 30 points. As a result, they secured a spot in next year’s Copa Sudamericana via the aggregate table (of course, if they win this edition they will qualify for the Libertadores instead). Lanús have lost only one of their last 13 matches in all competitions (winning eight and drawing four).
Atlético Mineiro delivered a strong performance in the second leg of the semifinals, defeating Independiente del Valle 3-1 at home (4-2 on aggregate) to reach the first Copa Sudamericana final in the club’s history. Last Sunday, the team fell 2-0 away to Red Bull Bragantino, a result that ended their seven-match unbeaten run in all competitions. They also dropped to 11th place in the Brasileirao with 44 points from 34 rounds, which currently keeps them in a Copa Sudamericana qualifying position (a spot they would no longer need if they win the final, as they would qualify for the Libertadores instead). Lyanco, Tomás Cuello, and Junior Santos remain sidelined with injuries.
Copa Sudamericana final, and while Lanus will go for their 2nd title, for Atletico Mineiro it would be their first. Lanus arrives in very good form here, scoring in 7 of their last 8 games and in 5 of them they did it at least twice. Atletico Mineiro are in good form as well with 10 goals scored in their last 4 games, so I’ll take this very short totals line also considering that since the 1 leg final system was introduced 6 years ago, 5 of those games had at least 2 goals.