Atlético Mineiro striker, Diego Tardelli, felt that Mineiro were nervous before the third place playoff with Guangzhou Evergrande and the team needed the result.
In coach Cuca’s final game before leaving to head to China to manage Evergrande rivals, Shandong Luneng, the Libertadores winners gave it their all to win third place with goals from Tardelli, Ronaldinho and Luna.
Tardelli scored the first goal of the game inside two minutes and admitted after the game that his team mates were worried before kick off: “It’s true that we were a bit anxious when taking the field, after everything that’d happened in our previous game,” forward Diego Tardelli said, speaking to FIFA.com.
“We were really worried about the fact we couldn’t afford to lose the game, as that would have made a bad situation even worse.
Tardelli returned to Mineiro this season after struggles in Russia with Anzi and Qatari club, Al-Gharafa.
