Platense will host Fluminense on Tuesday at 19:00 in the Estadio Ciudad de Vicente López, and the return leg of the Copa Libertadores 2026 quarterfinals begins with one simple task for Martín Palermo’s side: erase a 2-0 deficit and stay alive.
That is why Platense Vs Fluminense is drawing attention now. The first leg in the Maracaná ended with Nonato and Hulk scoring for Fluminense, leaving Platense with a home match that is no longer about control or patience, but about forcing the tie into a different shape from the first whistle. The winner will go on to face the winner of Palmeiras or Liga de Quito.
Palermo’s possible side is built around Juan Pablo Cozzani, Agustín Lagos, Ignacio Vázquez, Víctor Cuesta, Tomás Silva, Martín Barrios, Pablo Ferreira, Guido Mainero, Gastón Togni, Bruno Sepúlveda and Nicolás Retamar. Fluminense’s possible lineup is just as clear on paper, with Fábio, René, Thiago Silva, Julián Millán, Guga, Martinelli, Nonato, Jefferson Soteldo, Paulo Henrique Ganso, Kevin Serna and Hulk listed as the likely starters under Marcao.
The numbers leave Platense with no margin for a cautious night. A two-goal win would only level the aggregate score, so the home team needs either a bigger swing in the result or a late break in the tie to turn the quarterfinal around. That is the pressure Palermo is managing at Vicente López: home support, familiar ground and a first leg that still demands more than one good spell.
Fluminense, meanwhile, arrives with the advantage of the 2-0 lead and the simpler equation. Platense must turn Tuesday into a match that belongs to it early, because the longer the score stays against it, the more the tie tilts toward the side that already did the damage in Brazil. By the final whistle, the path to the semifinals will belong to either a comeback at Vicente López or a team that protected its lead across both legs.
