Cruzeiro return to the Copa Libertadores on Tuesday night for the first time in six years, and their opening Group D test is a trip to Barcelona SC at the Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha. It is the first meeting between the clubs, and it comes with Boca Juniors and Universidad Catolica also waiting in a group that leaves little room for a slow start.
Barcelona SC arrive with some momentum of their own. Cesar Farias’s side are third in the LigaPro Serie A standings on 12 points after three wins and three draws from their first seven league matches, and they beat LDU 2-0 at the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado on Friday through goals from Hector Villalba and Jhonny Quinonez. Even so, the Ecuadorians have not been reliable at home, failing to win three of their five matches there this season.
The weight of the night sits with the pressure on both teams to make a clean opening statement in a group that has already been stacked against them. Barcelona reached the group stage through the qualifiers, beating Argentinos Juniors and then edging Botafogo 2-1 on aggregate in March, but their campaign last term ended at the bottom of Group B. For Cruzeiro, the return has a different kind of edge: the Belo Horizonte club are chasing their third Libertadores title and need to show they can still compete at this level after a long absence.
That absence matters because the last time Cruzeiro were in the tournament, in 2019, they won five of six group-stage games before falling to River Plate in the round of 16. This season has been far less convincing. Artur Jorge is taking only his second match as head coach, and the 4-1 loss to Sao Paulo at the weekend was Cruzeiro’s fifth league defeat. They have one win from their most recent six matches in all competitions, and since the turn of the year their record stands at nine wins and eight losses in 21 outings, with 30 goals scored and 28 conceded.
There is also a sharp contrast in the way the teams have approached the season. Farias has mostly leaned on a 3-5-2 formation, with Dario Benedetto and Luis Cano forming the main attacking partnership, while Cruzeiro arrive carrying the burden of a poor run against Ecuadorian opposition. They have lost nine of their previous 16 meetings with clubs from Ecuador, a record that gives Barcelona a reason to believe the opener can tilt their way. What happens next for Cruzeiro is clear enough: a difficult first night in Group D could set the tone for a campaign they cannot afford to spend chasing.
