Club Atletico River Plate, a goal down from the first leg of their Copa Libertadores quarter-final, stunned Cruzeiro 3-0 at the Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to reach the semi-finals 3-1 on aggregate on Wednesday.
River face either fellow Argentine side Racing Club de Avellaneda or Guarani, who were due to meet in Buenos Aires yesterday with the Paraguayans a goal up, in the semi-finals which will be played in July after a break for the Copa America.
The other semi-final is between Brazil’s Internacional, who beat Independiente Santa Fe of Colombia 2-0 at home and 2-1 on aggregate, and Mexico’s Tigres UANL, 2-1 aggregate winners over Emelec of Ecuador on Tuesday.
Photo: Reuters
Right winger Carlos Sanchez put River in front after 20 minutes when he took a fine pass from striker Teo Gutierrez on the left and fired a low shot past goalkeeper Fabio.
Central defender Jonathan Maidana increased River’s lead on the stroke of halftime with a fine looping header from a corner.
Colombia’s Gutierrez, last year’s South American Player of the Year, scored a brilliant third seven minutes into the second half, beating two defenders on the left and placing his shot out of Fabio’s reach into the bottom corner.
Photo: Reuters
Cruzeiro, who beat River in the 1976 final and had never lost to them before in international competition, had substitute Gabriel Xavier sent off three minutes from time for bringing down goal-bound striker Rodrigo Mora.
Uruguayan Mora was voted man of the match after nearly missing the game with a knee problem.
“The squad backed me during the week while I worked separately and I was able to give my all for this team,” Mora told Fox Sports.
“We tried to play our best football and we had been lacking goals, but we made it,” he said.
Internacional scored two minutes from either end of their second leg at the Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre, Brazil, both goals coming from Andres d’Alessandro corners, with Juan tapping in the first and substitute Rafael Moura heading home the decider in the 88th minute.
Peruvian referee Victor Hugo Carrillo sent off two Santa Fe defenders, both after prior bookings, Dayron Mosquera in the 67th minute and Jose Anchico in the 82nd.
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