Bolívar will host Fluminense at Estadio Hernando Siles on Thursday, April 30, with both sides chasing their first win in Group C of the 2026 Copa Libertadores. The match comes at 3,367 metres above sea level, a setting that has long turned La Paz into a hard night for visiting teams.
Bolívar arrive with one point from two matches and a new man in charge after Flávio Robatto resigned following the draw with Deportivo La Guaira and the defeat to Independiente Petrolero last week. Vladimir Soria, who made his debut last weekend in a 6-0 win over Real Tomayapo, will take the touchline against Fluminense.
Robatto had been in charge since 2024 and won 73 of his 117 matches with Bolívar, but the team’s group-stage start made the change harder to avoid. They drew 1-1 with Deportivo La Guaira in their opening home match in this edition, then lost momentum again before Thursday’s meeting with a side that has also stumbled early.
Fluminense began the group with setbacks against Deportivo La Guaira and Independiente Rivadavia, leaving them on one point and bottom of the section after the latest round. In that defeat, they led 1-0 through Guilherme Arana before Fabrizio Sartori and Alex Arce turned the match around for Independiente Rivadavia. They then managed two Brasileirão wins, 3-2 against Santos and 2-1 against Chapecoense, and a 0-0 draw with Operário-PR in the Copa do Brasil, but the recovery came only after four matches without a win.
The Brazilian club traveled to Bolivia as close as possible to kick-off to reduce the effects of altitude, a sign of how seriously it is treating a venue where Bolívar’s home record has usually carried weight. The club has 90 wins in 135 Copa Libertadores matches at Hernando Siles, and six of Bolívar’s eight home matches this year, including the Summer Tournament, finished with more than 2.5 goals. That makes the margin for error thin for a Fluminense side that was expected to contend for the top of Group C but has instead spent the opening rounds trying to steady itself.
Bolívar will also have to cope without José Sagredo, who received a one-match ban for his sending-off in the opening fixture. Robson and Patrício Rodríguez have also been working their way back from recent injuries, leaving Soria with decisions to make in a match that can change the shape of the group quickly. Fluminense were tipped to progress as group winners, but in La Paz they are the team trying to survive the altitude, the travel and the pressure of a start that has not matched the expectation around them.
For Bolívar, the task is simpler on paper and harder in the stadium: turn home advantage into points, or risk letting a vulnerable group slip away before it truly opens up.