Grêmio coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo believes that the decision to go to Ecuador 10 days early to prepare for the first leg of their Copa Libertadores playoff against LDU was the key to victory in the tie.
The Porto Alegre club progressed to the group stage of the Copa Libertadores by a penalty shootout victory on Wednesday night, but the former Real Madrid coach believes it was their approach to the first leg, which was a 1-0 defeat, that was the key because they eliminated the altitude advantage the home side would have.
“I would like to win 4 or 5-0. But this is difficult," he told reporters after the game.
“The game is presented as a Copa Libertadores. The attack worked, we played, we reversed the score and we created chances here and there.
“It always hurt as a game. We should have completed this last year when we were already in the Libertadores [They lost second place on the last day]. I"m sure many do not like to be classified like this.
“But we did not win today. We won when he had the humility to go to Quito and stay working ten days. We played as equals and got the result with the minimum advantage for them."
Source: Lancenet!
