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By Lucia Leal. Washington — Brazil’s Atletico Paranaense beat Colombia’s Deportes Tolima 1-0 on Tuesday, winning on Matchday 4 of Group G of the Copa Libertadores and staying one step closer to qualifying for the next phase.

The only goal of the match was scored in the second half by midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.

Paranaense, champions of the 2018 Copa Sudamericana, remain in first place of the group with nine points, five more than Tolima, while Argentina’s Boca Juniors, also with four, and Cochabamba’s Jorge Wilstermann, with two, will play each other Wednesday in Buenos Aires.

The hosts arrived at the game fortified with last week’s significant 3-0 home win over Boca Juniors on a magical night for Argentina’s Marco Ruben, who scored the hat-trick, while Tolima let their home win slip and only managed a 2-2 draw against Wilstermann.

The first half was even between the teams, with few dangerous moves on the goals defended by local Santos and visitor Alvaro Montero.

Attacks spearheaded by Venezuelan Luis Gonzalez “Cariaco” and Marcos Perez brought Tolima chances, while the hosts had their best chances with Nikao and Argentines Ruben and Lucho Gonzalez, but without forcefulness, or success, for both teams.

In the second half, Paranaense coach Tiago Nunes was forced to replace his experienced captain Gonzalez, who was injured and gave way to his Argentine compatriot Tomas Andrade, while on the Colombian side, also due to physical problems, full-back Leyvin Balanta ceded his place to Juan Vargas.

Not being satisfied with the draw, the local ‘Hurricane’ came out strong in the second half looking to score and first danger came in the 52nd minute with a shot by left back Renan Lodi that crashed into the post of Tolima.

Then it was the defender Thiago Heleno, Rony da Silva Barbosa and the newcomer Marcelo Cirino who disturbed Montero.

The goal came in the 78th minute, after a play by Renan Lodi and in which Bruno Guimaraes tried his luck from half distance to beat Montero, who stood as one of the stars of the game and in extra time defended a shot by Rony that could have been the second goal for Paranaense.

In the fifth round, the penultimate of the group stage, Paranaense will visit Wilstermann on Apr. 24 and Tolima will play at home against Boca Juniors on the same day.