Alianza and the city of Lima are marked by great superstitions when the theme is Conmebol Libertadores. Fluminense is directly linked to both due to the match this Wednesday, at 9:30 pm, at the Alejandro Villanueva Stadium, and will have to face the good and bad side of this coin. The answer will only come in Buenos Aires, at the final whistle of the decision, but there are those who say that the most important step begins now: will Tricolor take advantage of the blessing or will it be affected by the curse?
Marcello Neves brings information about Fluminense straight from Lima
There are possibilities for optimists and pessimists. For those who want to smile, there is the chance to cling to the curiosity that the last three Libertadores champions played the first game of their journey to the title in Lima, Peru.
Champion in 2023, Fluminense made its debut exactly there, on April 5, against Sporting Cristal, in a 3-1 victory.
Sporting Cristal 1 x 3 Fluminense | Best moments | CONMEBOL Libertadores 2023
The city also blessed Flamengo and Palmeiras recently. In 2022, Rubro-Negro opened the competition in Lima, beating Sporting Cristal 2-0. In 2021, Alviverde beat Universitário 3-2. They were all champions.
It is worth noting that there is one more team that can take advantage of this blessing: LDU, which also debuts in Lima in this 1st round — against Universitario. Another club in the city, Sporting Cristal, was eliminated in the pre-contest phase of the Conmebol Libertadores.
Alianza’s ‘curse’
On the other hand, Alianza Lima is one of the clubs that opponents most wanted to face. After all, the Peruvians had a negative record of almost 50 games without winning in the history of the competition. But by falling into the Fluminense group, it also brings with it a “curse” that will have to be broken.
This is because, since 1998, all clubs that fall into the same group as Alianza Lima have not been able to become Libertadores champions. Regardless of country or favoritism in this competition. The last to suffer from this were the Brazilians Atlético-MG and Athletico, in 2023.
The supposed curse gained strength in 2002, when São Caetano reached the Libertadores final, but lost the decision to Olímpia — the Brazilians were in the Alianza group. Two years later it was the turn of São Paulo, who also met the Peruvian club, to fall in the semi-final. From then on, the theme became popular.
Clubs that suffered against Alianza Lima:
- River Plate and Colón — Libertadores 1998;
- Nacional-URU and Athletico — Libertadores 2000;
- São Caetano and Cobreloa — Libertadores 2002;
- Cobreloa and Olimpia — Libertadores 2003;
- São Paulo and LDU — Libertadores 2004;
- Banfield and Tigres — Libertadores 2005;
- Necaxa and São Paulo — Libertadores 2007;
- Estudiantes — Libertadores 2010;
- Vasco and Libertad — Libertadores 2012;
- Palmeiras and Boca Juniors — Libertadores 2018;
- Internacional and River Plate — Libertadores 2019;
- Racing and Nacional — Libertadores 2020;
- River Plate and Fortaleza — Libertadores 2022;
- Atlético-MG and Athletico — Libertadores 2023.
Interestingly, the last one to ‘break’ the curse was Cruzeiro, in 1997, when they became two-time champions. Same goal as Fluminense.
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