PORTO ALEGRE, Jul 7 (SW) - São Paulo were given a tough match on Wednesday night, but escaped the first leg of the 2005 Copa Libertadores final with a 1-1 draw away to Atlético Paranaense at the Estádio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre.

The match had to be moved from Atlético's Kyocera stadium in Curitiba after CONMEBOL, South American football's governing body, ruled that the stadium was too small to host the final of the competition.

In the first-ever all-Brazilian Libertadores final, the home side came out firing on all cylinders and took just 14 minutes to open the scoring when Aloísio found the back of the São Paulo net.

Atlético fullback Jancarlos' cross from the right met striker Aloísio just outside of the six-yard box and he made no mistake, guiding a header past goalkeeper Rogério Ceni into the left corner for a 1-0 lead.

São Paulo gained some momentum afterwards, but both sides got their fair chances of the chances for the next goal. Unfortunately for Atlético, some poor rearguard work cost them in the 52nd minute when Durval put past his own goalkeeper to level the match at 1-1.

Atlético goalkeeper Diego nicely saved a ball that had been inadvertently headed toward goal by his own teammate, but the ball deflected off of the head of Durval and into the net, Diego with no chance to stop it.

The second leg will be at the Morumbi stadium next Thursday with São Paulo looking to claim their third Libertadores title.