Thousands of fans of Universitario de Deportes will attend the Monumental stadium tonight to watch the official presentation of their team against Independiente de Medellín live. But among the Cream supporters there is one who is not a fan of the 'U': the coach of Oriente Petrolero.
► Watch the 'Noche Crema' live from the Monumental
Nestor Clausen, coach of the 'U's rival in the Libertadores, prefers to take note in situ of the performance of Pedro Troglio's team, whom he will face on Monday in the first leg of the Copa.
That's why he didn't mind leaving his team in the middle of a friendly match to travel to Lima. Oriente Petrolero played a preparation match against Royal Pari last night and Clausen was only present in the first half. For the second half, the coach grabbed his suitcase and traveled to the Peruvian capital.
Oriente Petrolero won 2-1 against Royal Pari and the goals for the Cream rival were scored by Paraguayan defender Jorge Paredes (23') and Colombian forward Jhony Cano (51'), both reinforcements who arrived this season to the Bolivian team.
Although Pedro Troglio was not at the Tahuichi stadium, the Cream DT surely already has the video of Oriente Petrolero's friendly to analyze their rival in detail.
Universitario de Deportes and Oriente Petrolero will play on Monday at 8:15 pm (Peruvian time) at the Tahuichi stadium. The return match will be at 8:45 pm at the Monumental.
Background
This will be the second occasion that Universitario de Deportes and Oriente Petrolero face each other in the Copa Libertadores, referring to the matches they played in 2003 for group 6 of that tournament. The Creams won 2-0 in Lima and drew 2-2 in Santa Cruz.
Raul Fernandez, the 'U' goalkeeper who was a striker and dreams of scoring in the first division
Raul Fernandez has won three titles in 10 seasons with Universitario. (Photo: Fernando Sangama)