Internacional from Porto Alegre achieved a very important victory despite being reduced to 10 men in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Estudiantes de La Plata.
The match was played in Buenos Aires in front of 43,000 fans and the only goal of the game was scored for Inter by Alex (34) from the penalty spot. The kick had to be retaken as Alex had broken his run-up but he scored at the second attempt anyway.
Internacional played with ten players since the 24th minute because midfielder Pablo Guiñazu was sent off following a second yellow card that seemed to be an over-reaction from the Paraguayan referee Carlos Amarilla.
Estudiantes started better than Inter but the work done by Guiñazu in the midfield proved effective and interrupted the link-up play between Veron and the strikers.
Leonardo Astrada’s team tried to take advantage of every free kick but the outstanding performance of the keeper Lauro kept Estudiantes at bay.
A free kick from Juan Sebastian Veron and a header from Agustin Alayes were stopped during a superb display from the goalkeeper.
And everything got more difficult for Estudiantes when Nilmar dribbled past Leandro Desabato and the defender foulded him in the area.
Alex was very calm in beating keeper Mariano Andujar at the second time of asking due to the fussy referee. After that moment, Inter got stronger while Estudiantes were more nervous while the minutes went by and they could not find the way to damage the Brazilian defence.
The talented playmaker Andres D'Alessandro was the man of the match for his precise passes and because of his quality for showing the way forward to his team, asking to have the ball at his feet all the time whenever possible. From D'Alessandro's feet, all the good football of Internacional started and that was continued by Alex and Nilmar
The second leg will be played next week in the Beira Rio stadium in Porto Alegre. In this part of the competition the away goal rule does not count.