Cruzeiro in final
Striker Wellington scored twice to earn Cruzeiro a 2-2 draw at 10-man Gremio on Thursday, setting up a Libertadores Cup final clash with Estudiantes.
Cruzeiro won their all-Brazilian semi-final 5-3 on aggregate and will travel to meet the Argentine side in La Plata for the first leg of the final next week.
"Now we must get down to work because we know that playing an Argentine team in the Libertadores final is not at all easy," Cruzeiro's man of the match Kleber said.
"We have to prepare well to become champions," he told Fox Sports.
Cruzeiro beat Argentina's River Plate in the 1976 final for the first of their two titles. They beat Sporting Cristal of Peru in the 1997 final.
Cruzeiro met three-times champions Estudiantes in the same group, winning 3-0 at home and losing 4-0 away.
"They are fine rivals and they have a player who's really great to watch and who troubles you a lot tactically, (Juan Sebastian) Veron," Cruzeiro coach Adilson Batista said.
Batista added that Cruzeiro would have no problem going to La Plata despite the outbreak of the H1N1 flu strain that has claimed at least 43 lives in Argentina.
"We're going to travel, we'll play, without any problem. We're going to play football, put face masks on if necessary," he said.
Estudiantes beat Nacional of Uruguay 2-1 in Montevideo on Wednesday for a 3-1 aggregate victory to reach their fifth final, but first since 1971.
Cruzeiro midfielder Ramirez, fresh from Confederations Cup victory with Brazil, said: "Now we have to play the first leg of the final away from home with the same approach of today's match, to get our conquest on track."
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