Flamengo celebrate passage into the quarter-finals
Flamengo reached the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores despite suffering a 2-1 defeat to Corinthians at the Pacaembu stadium in Sao Paulo on Wednesday night. The Mengao went through on the away goals rule, after having beaten their rivals 1-0 in the first leg of the tie in Rio de Janeiro last week.
To the delight of the strong 38,000 crowd, Corinthians went ahead in the 28th minute when Flamengo defender David conceded an own-goal.
Ronaldo doubled Corinthians’ advantage in the 38th minute when he met a well-delivered cross with a well-directed header.
However, Vagner Love scored a crucial away goal for Flamengo in the 50th minute with a crossed shot from the left side of the area, which swinged the tie in his team’s favour.
Corinthians tried their best to score a third goal that would have taken them through, but they were kept out by the heroics of Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno, who made a number of crucial saves.
The Timao bowed out of the competition, and have no choice but to continue to wait for their first Copa Libertadores title in their 100-year history.
Fellow Brazilians Cruzeiro advanced to the quarter-finals after thrashing Nacional of Uruguay 3-0 at the Parque Central stadium in Montevideo.
Cruzeiro took a 3-1 advantage into the return leg, and although they were under constant pressure at the beginning of the match a perfectly executed free-kick from attacker Thiago Ribeiro — who scored a hat-trick in the first leg — swung the game in their direction in the 30th minute.
Further goals from Renan and Gilberto, in the 48th and 81st minutes, sealed a huge 6-1 aggregate victory for the Belo Horizonte giants.
In Buenos Aires, defending champions Estudiantes de La Plata beat San Luis of Mexico 3-1 for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory.
Estudiantes took an early lead through Leandro Gonzalez, but Diego De La Torre hit back for the Mexicans within minutes. Two second-half goals from Leandro Benitez won the match for the side captained by playmaker Juan Sebastian Veron.
The round of 16 stage of the Copa Libertadores concludes on Thursday with the following matches: Internacional vs Banfield, Libertad vs Once Caldas and Universidad de Chile vs Alianza Lima.
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Flamengooooooo !!!!!!!!! Flamengooooooo !!!!!!!! Ronaldo sorry but you should have come to us. Traitor
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MENGAOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Flamengo did it with style! I wasnt worried at all at half time i knew they would score that decisive away goal! much love VAGNER!
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Too bad for Ronaldo- maybe next season, i was hoping Corinthians would win with that great squad they assembled. Same thing happened with the Corinthians “galacticos” when they had tevez.
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