Atletico Parananse snatch late draw against Volyn Lutsk

A 90th minute strike by substitute Yago da Silva provided a nice finishing touch to what was probably the best match so far of the Mahindra & Mahindra Sait Nagjee international tournament on Thursday night.

Man-of-the-Match Redvan Memeshev (right) scores against Atletico Paranaense

A 90th minute strike by substitute Yago da Silva provided a nice finishing touch to what was probably the best match so far of the Mahindra & Mahindra Sait Nagjee international tournament on Thursday night. Not many would grudge the 2-2 result achieved by Atletico Parananse of Brazil and Volyn Lutsk from Ukraine.

There was hardly a dull moment, as both the teams played attacking, entertaining football. Neither played it rough, either.

The younger men from Brazil were more fancied, based on the form the two teams displayed in the opening round, but the Ukrainians wasted no time to announce that they were not be taken lightly on this night.

In fact, the Brazilians’ first goal, in the 22nd minute, came off a counter-attack that took Volyn by surprise. It all began with a fine free-kick taken just outside the box by Andrii Bogdanov. The effort was thwarted well by the Paranaense ‘keeper Lucas Ferriera. That led to a couple of corner kicks, on either side.

Sucker punch

Before the Ukrainians could get back into their own position, Paranaense retaliated, through a swift dash down the right by Gustavo de Assis. He gave a through ball to Wesley da Silva, who was quick enough to beat the defence and custodian Bohdan Shust, who would make some great saves later on in the match.

Volyn equalised in the 29th minute, following a corner kick. A header by Redvan Memeshev was pushed away by the Paranaense ‘keeper Lucas Ferriera, but Sergii Loginov was placed well enough inside the box to slot the ball home.

The score remained 1-1 at the interval.

The relentless pressure by the Ukrainians finally paid off in the 69th minute, as Memeshev, after being fed by Loginov from the right, cut into the box and found the net. Memeshev was named Man-of-the-Match.

Point salvaged

Just when it seemed Volyn would post its first win, Yago, who came in for Luis Soares, ensured that Atletico would get one point. He received an excellent ball inside the box, from Kaio Pantlaeo down the right, stopped it and drove it into the roof of the net.

The result: Atletico Paranaense 2 (Wesley da Silva 22, Yago da Silva 90) drew with Volyn Lutsk 2 (Sergii Loginov 29, Redvan Memeshev 63).