Muslera Silences the Maracanã: Estudiantes Dethrone the Champions and Set Up a Historic Final Against Palmeiras
Copa Libertadores 2026 — Semi-final (Second Leg)
Flamengo 0 (2) – (3) 0 Estudiantes de La Plata
Aggregate: 0–0 | Estudiantes win on penalties
Venue: Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
Date: Thursday, 22 October 2026 — 21:30 Brasília time
Referee: Gustavo Tejera (Uruguay)
Attendance: 70,000+
Cards: Red — Baltasar Rodríguez (Estudiantes, 50') | Yellow — González Pírez (Flamengo)
On a night meant to be a routine passage to Montevideo for the reigning champions, the Maracanã fell into a heavy silence. Flamengo played more than forty minutes with an extra man yet could not break down ten-man Estudiantes, then fell from the spot to a goalkeeper, Fernando Muslera, who saved three penalties and rewrote his own story in a single evening.
First Half: Champions’ Nerves, Visitors’ Composure
Flamengo started anxious, weighed down by the goalless first leg in La Plata. Estudiantes looked calm, shutting the central channels and conceding possession without conceding space. The half was an exercise in sterile domination, lacking rhythm and courage in the final third.
Second Half: An Advantage Never Converted
Midfielder Baltasar Rodríguez was sent off five minutes after the restart, and the game seemed to open up for Leonardo Jardim’s side. Instead, Estudiantes dropped into a compact low block and Flamengo circled the box without a key. The best chance came late, a Lucas Paquetá header that flew just wide of Muslera’s right post. Five minutes of stoppage time changed nothing, and the tie went to penalties.
The Shootout: Muslera’s Night
Arrascaeta and Sosa opened with conversions. Then the collapse began: Muslera denied Jorginho, Paquetá and Bruno Henrique, with only Arrascaeta and Léo Pereira scoring for Flamengo. Estudiantes missed once themselves, but three successful kicks were enough to win it 3–2.
The cruelest irony: the misses came from the most expensive names in the squad, the very players around whom the title defence had been built.
Player of the Match
Fernando Muslera (Estudiantes) — three penalty saves at the Maracanã, transforming from a goalkeeper under fire into the architect of qualification.
Key Numbers
- Two goalless games across 180 minutes of the semi-final.
- Three of Flamengo’s five penalties failed.
- Flamengo’s first Libertadores penalty exit at the Maracanã since their defeat to Racing in 2020.
- The end of the 2025 title defence, after an unbeaten run all the way to the semi-finals.
Flamengo did not lose on penalties alone; they lost ninety minutes earlier. A squad with these resources, playing over forty minutes with a numerical advantage, was obliged to settle the tie before the lottery. The absence of individual or collective solutions against a low block raises serious questions for Jardim, and for a project built around stars rather than mechanisms.
Estudiantes, meanwhile, delivered a classic Argentine lesson: patience, discipline, and the belief that a match is never over until it is decided.
What’s Next
Estudiantes face Palmeiras in the final on Saturday, 28 November 2026, at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, a rematch of the final the two clubs contested 58 years ago. Flamengo return to domestic competition carrying both a sporting wound and a financial blow.
Dr. Talal Othman, General Manager — GCC Sport
