Atletico lift Supercup with 4-1 win over Chapecoense
MEDELLIN (Reuters) - Atletico Nacional lifted the South American Supercup on Wednesday after two goals each from Andres Ibarguen and Dayro Moreno gave them a 4-1 victory on the night and 5-3 aggregate win over Brazilian side Chapecoense.
It was a losing return to Medellin for a club who saw many of its players and staff wiped out in a plane crash last November.
The small club from southern Brazil were to have played Atletico in the final of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's equivalent of the Europa League.
However, their plane crashed on approach to the Colombian city, killing 71 of the 77 people on board, including all but three of the club's players and staff.
Chapecoense were later awarded the trophy and that took them into the 2017 Recopa, or Supercup, against Copa Libertadores winners Atletico.
Chapecoense won the first leg in Brazil 2-1 in April but were outclassed against a more experienced team playing at a packed home stadium on Wednesday.
"They got an early goal and that played into Atletico's hands, they had the time to play the ball about," Chapecoense coach Vagner Mancini told Fox Sports after the game. "We had our chances to make it 2-1 but they got a third and a fourth."
"But we are learning and rebuilding a given the difficulties we've been through we matched them for long parts of the match. The season is only getting started and we'll go on from here."
Atletico took the lead in the first minute when keeper Artur Moraes let a shot from Moreno squirm under his body. Ibarguen doubled their lead on the half hour when he created space in a ruck of players and curled a shot into the far corner.
Chapecoense came into the game in the second half and were unlucky not to cut the lead immediately after the restart when Alexis Charales knocked a goal bound shot off the line.
That miss, and another moments later from Wellington Paulista, were to prove costly when Moreno made it three after 72 minutes.
Ibarguen bamboozled the defence with some tricky footwork and his cross was knocked back across goal for Moreno to head home.
Ibarguen then made it four after 80 minutes when what was to be a shot turned into a perfect lob after he slipped at the moment of contact.
Tulio de Melo got Chapecoense's consolation goal eight minutes from time.
(Reporting by Andrew Downie; Editing by Peter Rutherford)