A Botafogo Almost out of breath and against the ropes, he tied this Wednesday with Palmeiras 2-2 in and qualified for the quarter-finals of the Libertadores Cupin which they will face Sao Paulo or Uruguay’s Nacional, a series that will be decided on August 22.
The round of 16 series pitted last year’s Brazilian Championship champion Palmeiras against the current tournament leader Botafogo, and saw a simultaneous duel between Portuguese coaches: Abel Ferreira and Artur Jorge. Botafogo prevailed at the end of today’s match after winning 2-1 in the first leg eight days ago in Rio de Janeiro. Today, the Rio team had a two-goal advantage thanks to Igor Jesus (m.58) and Venezuelan Jefferson Savarino (m.65).
A tremendous comeback by the Albiverde team took place in the final minutes and led to an emotional draw thanks to the Argentine Juan Manuel ‘Flaco’ López (m.88) and Rony (m.91). The VAR denied Palmeiras the third goal, as the Paraguayan centre-back Gustavo Gómez touched the ball with his arm during the move.
Gustavo Gómez Portillo (Botafogo) and Vitor Reis (Palmeiras) jump for a ball and
The first goal of the match came from Igor Jesus, who had scored another goal in the first leg. Seven minutes later, in the midst of euphoria, Venezuelan Savarino received an assist from Martins in front of goal and deposited the ball into the back of the net.
The Rio de Janeiro club came into the match with a win in the first leg and having won three of their last five games in the ‘Brasileirao’, the last one by a 4-1 thrashing of Flamengo. Meanwhile, Palmeiras, three-time Libertadores champions, received their rival after having won two of their last five games in Brazilian tournaments.
TECHNICAL SHEET
2 – Palmeiras: Weverton da Silva; Marcos Rocha (d.63, Gabriel Menino), Gustavo Gómez, Vitor Reis, Caio Paulista; Zé Rafael (m.70, Aníbal Moreno), Richard Ríos (m.62, Rony Barbosa), Raphael Veiga; Estêvão Gonçalves, Juan Manuel ‘Flaco’ López and Felipe Anderson (m.48, Lázaro Marques).
2 – Botafogo: John Furtado Mateo Ponte, Bastos Quissanga, Alexander Barboza, Cuiabano da Silva (d.63, Hugo Ferreira); Gregore Favero (d.76, Danilo Barbosa), Marlon Freitas, Luiz Henrique da Silva (d.48, Matheus de Paula), Jefferson Savarino; Thiago Almada (m.70, Tchê Tchê Pinheiro) and Igor Jesus (m.63, Tiquinho Soares).
Goals: 0-1, Igor Jesus (m. 58); 0-2, Jefferson Savarino (m. 65); 1-2, Juan Manuel ‘Flaco’ López (d. 88); 2-2, Rony (m. 91)
Referee: Argentine Facundo Tello, who gave yellow cards to Barboza, Ríos, Gregore and Tchê Tchê.
Incidents: Second leg of the Copa Libertadores round of 16 played at the Allianz Parque stadium in São Paulo.
