O’Higgins beat Everton 1-0 with a penalty goal from Francisco González in the final minutes of the game (90th + 5th). The win saw them climb to third place in the table and thus secure a place in the preliminary round 2 of the continental tournament.
The Chilean club was taken over by a company and one of the members is Jorge Reina, and the operation was carried out this year. The last time the club qualified to take part in this tournament was in 2014. This will be O’Higgins’ historic fifth appearance in the Copa Libertadores and he returns to the tournament after eleven years.
In a thrilling game in El Teniente, O’Higgins defeated Everton de Viña del Mar 1-0 with a penalty converted by Francisco González in the 90+5 minute and secured qualification for the 2026 Copa Libertadores as Chile 3, thus reaching preliminary round 2 of the continental tournament.
The game had been tense and balanced: chances were scarce in the first half – O’Higgins had only two shots on target and Everton registered not a single one – and the game only collapsed in the final minutes. The definition came when a handball in the away area was punished and González converted the maximum penalty into a goal in stoppage time, causing delirium in the sixth region.
The significance of the victory went beyond the local result: while O’Higgins was fighting for a continental place (Chile 2 or Chile 3), Everton came with the opposite urgency: to avoid relegation to Primera B. During the development of the second half, the panorama remained open, as the score and results of other games – in particular the match between Deportes Iquique and Universidad de Chile – could influence who would gain access to the cups. It was precisely a temporary victory for the Universidad de Chile (3-2 in the North) that temporarily excluded O’Higgins from the Libertadores until the penalty after an hour tipped the scales in favor of the locals.
The qualification marks O’Higgins’ return to the Copa Libertadores after eleven years: the club had previously participated in 1979, 1980, 1984 and 2014; In 2026 it will be the fifth participation in its history. For the heavenly fans, the evening in Rancagua was the realization of a long-awaited goal.
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