Atletico Paranaense suffered a home defeat at the hands of Argentine side velez Sarsfield in the Copa Libertadores to put a dent in their hopes of progressing fom Group 1 and hand their opponents an expected passage through to the next round of the competition.
The Curitiba based side, who have now won three and lost two of their five fixtures, are almost relying on other results in the group to see them through following defeat at the Estadio Durival de Brito e Siva on Wednesday evening.
A goal from substitute defender Drausio will come as scant consolation to the Brazilans, who also had fellow sub Fran Merida sent off for a straight red offence after 51 minutes, thus ruling the Spaniard out of the final group game.
There was also no sign of Adriano, the 32 year-old former Brazil striker not yet fit enough to command even a place on the bench for Miguel Angel Portugal’s team.
Paranaense’s last Copa fixture in Group 1 comes on April 8 against The Stongest in La Paz in Bolivia.
