Olimpia wraps up dominant year by clinching Paraguay’s Clausura title

Olimpia routed Guarani 4-1 at home to clinch the Paraguayan soccer league’s Clausura championship with two rounds remaining in the season.

El Decano has been dominant throughout the 2018 season, having captured the Apertura championship by an 11-point margin over Cerro Porteño and wrapping up the Clausura on Wednesday night with a 10-point edge over that same rival.

Olimpia (46 points), which led Cerro Porteño by eight points prior to the game at Defensores del Chaco Stadium, could even have clinched the title with a loss considering that El Ciclon, which now has 36 points, played to a 2-2 draw on the road Wednesday night against Deportivo Santani.

With its latest championship, Olimpia has extended its record haul of Paraguayan league titles to 42.

It also has secured a berth in the group stage of the 2019 edition of the Copa Libertadores, South American soccer’s premier club soccer competition.

Wednesday night’s match had been postponed because many of Olimpia’s players had international duty over the Matchday 19 weekend (Nov. 17-18).

Julian Benitez opened the scoring for El Decano in the eighth minute, but Guarani equalized on a goal by Guillermo Benitez at the beginning of the second half.

Juan Patiño put Olimpia ahead for good in the 59th minute, while Hugo Quintana and Jorge Ortega piled on for the home side by scoring in the 76th and 85th minutes, respectively.

Smoke from flares set off by Olimpia’s fans caused the match to be delayed for six minutes and slightly postpone the on-field celebration.