Juan Manuel Olivera struck a brace as Universidad de Chile came from a goal down to beat Colombian side Cali 2-1 in the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana preliminary-stage encounter.

In the opening game of the international club championship, Uruguay-born Olivera helped Jose Horacio Basualdo's team recover from conceding a 47th-minute goal to Sergio Herrera. Cali dominated the first half and made their superiority count two minutes after the interval.

But Olivera equalised 17 minutes later by heading home a Walter Montillo corner. Then, in the 67th minute, Cali goalkeeper Sebastian Blazquez fouled Manuel Villalobos in the area and Argentinian referee Diego Abal awarded a penalty, from which Olivera made no mistake.

Olivera had the chance to notch a hat-trick in the rain but Blazquez managed to get his fingers to the striker's shot. After the match, Olivera praised his team for the way they responded to going a goal down.

"Cali controlled the ball pretty well. Their goal shocked us, but we got over it by playing football," he told Fox Sports. "We tried to recover by helping each other. We knew it was possible."

Cali coach Jose Hernandez felt his team deserved at least a draw from their trip to Chile. He said: "We played much better than Universidad - technically and tactically. This tie continues in Cali. There, we will be the home team. We respect Universidad, but there are still 90 minutes to play."

The second leg of this tie will be played on 18 August in Colombia. Reigning champions Internacional, who had a bye in the preliminary stage, await the winners in the round of 16.