Bolivia’s second greatest champion and altitude: meet The Strongest, Bahia’s opponent in the Libertadores

Bahia met their first opponent in the Copa Libertadores da América. Upon returning to the competition after 35 years, the Squadron will face The Strongest, from Bolivia.

The confrontation was defined this Thursday (19), during a draw carried out by Conmebol. The entity will still announce the days and times of the matches, but the tricolor already knows that the first game will be in Bolivia, in the week of December 19th. The return will be at Fonte Nova, the week of February 26th.

To get the tricolors into the Libertadores spirit, CORREIO prepared a dossier on the Bolivian team. Check it out:

THE STRONGEST, BUT NOT SO MUCH

The Strongest was founded in 1908, in the capital La Paz, by young people who lived together in the Bolivian military service. The name was chosen in reference to the English language, and means “the strongest”. The colors are yellow and black.

Over its 116 years, the club has become one of the most traditional in Bolivia and South American football. The Strongest is the second biggest champion in his country, with 16 major league titles, the last won last year. The team is only behind its biggest rival, Bolívar, which, with the victory of Clausura, in the current season, reached 31 cups.

The Strongest has a hegemonic period in the Libertadores. Since 2012, the team has competed in all editions of the main competition on the South American continent. This will be the 31st time that the team will be at Liberta.

In 2024, Tigre entered directly into the group stage and led the group that included Grêmio, Estudiantes and Huachipato, from Chile. In the round of 16, he was eliminated after suffering a 4-0 defeat by Peñarol, in Montevideo. They won 1-0 on the return leg, but it wasn’t enough to reverse the score.

Despite the sequence of participations, the club’s best campaign in the Libertadores was the round of 16, reached in the 1990, 1994, 1995, 2014, 2017 and 2024 editions,

One of Bahia’s concerns in the confrontation with The Strongest will be the altitude of La Paz. The Bolivian city is approximately 3,650 meters above sea level, making it the highest capital in the world. Altitude causes greater difficulty in tissue oxygenation, which is problematic during games.

In recent years, many of the clashes in Bolivia have been marked by scenes of players using oxygen balloons.

To give you an idea of ​​how The Strongest uses altitude to its advantage, since 2017 the club has lost only four of the 22 games it played at home in the Libertadores. This year, for example, the Bolivians won all four home games. Among them, 2×0 over Grêmio, in the group stage.

On the other hand, the team has been without winning away from home for a long time. There are 21 dry games.

The Strongest usually plays its games at the Hernando Siles stadium, in La Paz, which has a capacity for 45 thousand people. The equipment was opened in 1930, and hosted games from the 1997 Copa América.

The Strongest is the current runner-up of the Bolivian Clausura, losing the title to rival Bolívar. The performance earned a place in the second phase of the pre-Libertadores.

Currently the team is coached by Spanish coach Ismael Rescalvo, 42 years old, who has worked in Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico.

The squad has two players who played in Bahian football. Both defending Vitória. Goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra was revealed in the red and black base, but did not continue in the main team. He is the team’s starter and one of the main players.

Striker Rodrigo Ramallo was not missed at Leão. The player defended the Red and Black team in 2016. He took to the field in just six matches, and scored no goals. This year, Ramallo participated in 29 games, scored twice and provided two assists.