After a chaotic day, which ended with more than 250 Peñarol fans detained, <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/01/cr7-does-not-rule-out-a-departure-in-brazil/" title="CR7 does not rule out a departure in Brazil“>Botafogo gave a little peace to Rio de Janeiro by beating the Uruguayans 5-0 this Wednesday and being on the verge of their first final in the Copa Libertadores.
The winger Luiz Henrique (74), on a brilliant night, and the center forward Igor Jesus (79) closed the beating at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium and practically turned the second leg semi-final into a mere formality, which will be played next Wednesday in Montevideo.
“We have to keep our feet on the ground, this is just a game,” Barboza said.
The ‘Lone Star’, directed by the Portuguese Artur Jorge, thus approached an unprecedented double: the title of the Brasileirao, which would be the first since 1995, and that of the main club tournament in America.
The categorical victory against Mirasoles that had just eliminated the powerful Flamengo in the quarterfinals also closes a very turbulent day in the ‘Cidade maravilhosa’.
Riots mar the ‘semi’
The Brazilian police arrested more than 250 Peñarol fans for riots on Recreio beach, in the western part of Rio, which occurred hours before kickoff at Nilton Santos, in the north of the city.
The chaos impacted the start of the match, the first semifinal for Diego Aguirre’s Aurinegros since 2011, when they lost the definition with Neymar’s Santos. By order of Conmebol, the match began fifteen minutes later than scheduled.
The president of Peñarol, Ignacio Ruglio, assured that the delay was due to the fact that his team’s bus arrived late to the stadium due to alleged negligence by the Rio authorities.
The tension moved to the field, where a clash between Brazilian full-back Alex Telles and Uruguayan midfielder Eduardo Darias caused a scuffle in the 3rd minute.
After the threat of a storm, the calm was interrupted several times throughout the game by various clashes between the players.
In the spirit of surprising again, the Mirasols seemed comfortable in the first half and were close to going ahead with a right hand from midfielder Rodrigo Pérez that sent goalkeeper John (25) flying.
The Cariocas responded (45+1) with a left-footed shot by Luiz Henrique from outside the area that shook the palms of Uruguayan goalkeeper Washington Aguerre.
The attacker entered the second half connected and took on the task of waking up the other men of the ‘Fogão’, which is playing its third semifinal in the Libertadores, the first since 1973.
Four minutes later, Savarino took a corner that Igor Jesus lowered in the heart of the area to Barboza, who shot with his left foot to make it 2-0.
Helped by a weak response from Aguerre, the Vinotinto player scored the double after a pass from Vitinho from the right.
After slowing down for a few minutes, Luiz Henrique got back on track and scored a beautiful Vaseline goal, followed later by a header from Igor Jesus as a result of another counterattack.
The beating practically matches Botafogo in the final with Atlético Mineiro, who beat River Plate 3-0 in Belo Horizonte the day before.
