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Cerro Porteño and Palmeiras will face each other this Wednesday, starting at 6 PM EST, for the return leg of the round of 16 of the 2026 Copa Libertadores. The match will be played at the General Pablo Rojas Stadium in the city of Asunción, Paraguay

The first match ended 1-1 at Nubank Parque on Wednesday, August 12. This previous result in the first leg suggests that this match will be an electrifying one, since Palmeiras, due to its squad and history, needs a victory that will allow it to advance to the quarterfinals of this CONMEBOL Libertadores 2026, while the Paraguayan team Cerro Porteño wants to improve on its best performance in the tournament, which was reaching the semifinals, and for that it needs to beat Palmeiras today if it wants to keep the dream alive

How both teams arrived at this point?

As in the group stage, these two historic South American teams face each other again, but in this instance only one of them can survive. In the case of Cerro Porteño, the Paraguayan team had a better points-scoring campaign during the group stage of this CONMEBOL Libertadores, finishing first in its group with 13 points and followed by the other team in this round of 32, Palmeiras, which finished with 11 points in second place. Although the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw, the group stage matches favored the team led by Holan. Cerro Porteño has one win and two draws against the Brazilian team in this edition of the Copa Libertadores.

Lineups, suspensions, and referees

The probable lineups for Cerro Porteño are Roffo, F. Domínguez, Velázquez, Quintana, Chaparro, C. Domínguez, Gamarra, Bobadilla, Morel, and Vegetti, with Holan as coach. 

Palmeiras would start with Miguel, Gómez, Murilo, Barboza, Allan, Martínez, Freitas, Piquerez, Jhon Arias, Flaco López, and Vitor Roque, led by Abel Ferreira.

Palmeiras will not have Ramón Sosa due to a hamstring injury. He came on at the start of the second half against Fluminense on Saturday, August 15, but was substituted in the second half and will miss the trip to his home country. Andreas Pereira is suspended after his red card in the first leg and therefore will not be able to play in this match.

The referees will be Facundo Tello, with Juan P. Belatti and Gabriel Chade as assistant referees, and Héctor Palleta on VAR.

In the midst of a clash of titans, this match will go down in the history of the competition, and one team will seek to continue in the pursuit of Eternal Glory

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