Ecuador’s Liga de Quito won the Copa Sudamericana title despite a 3-0 loss to Fluminense of Brazil on Wednesday, earning their third continental trophy in two years with a 5-4 aggregate score.
Diguinho, Fred and Gum scored for Fluminense at a packed Maracana Stadium, but it wasn’t enough to erase the Brazilian club’s 5-1 first-leg loss last week in Ecuador.
Trying to win their first international title and boosted by nearly 70,000 fans at the Maracana, Fluminense pressured from the beginning on Wednesday to try to reverse the first-leg result. Coach Cuca set up his team with three forwards and it quickly started to pay off.
Midfielder Diguinho opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a long-range left-footed shot that deflected off Liga de Quito defender William Araujo and beat goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez.
Ulises De la Cruz was sent off four minutes later after a sliding tackle on Diguinho.
Striker Fred found the net in the 43rd minute with a low shot from inside the area after a perfect pass from forward Alan.
The Brazilians maintained the pressure in the second half and sealed the win when defender Gum scored with a header in the 73rd minute.
Fred was sent off in the 76th minute after receiving his second yellow card for protesting a decision and Liga defender Jairo Campos was shown his second yellow card in the 82nd minute. Fluminense had several other scoring opportunities and continued to press into the closing minutes.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough,” Fluminense striker Alan said. “We gave our best, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the last goal we needed.”
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