South America's biggest soccer tournament in history comes to its quarter-finals after last thursday (August 30th) results, and now, only eight teams remain in the competition, with seven giants and one underdog chasing the CONMEBOL Libertadores title. Between those squads, there are four Argentineans, three Brazilian and only one Chilenean - with the winner being qualified to FIFA Club World Cup, which will be placed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in December.
In the round of sixteen, at the first bracket, one of the biggest teams in Argentina, River Plate, had to duel against the compatriot Racing Club de Avellaneda, having no trouble to advance after a 0-0 draw away and a 3-0 victory home. In the second clash, between the three times continental champion and former Pelé team, Santos, and the biggest Libertadores winner of all time with seven titles, Club Atlético Independiente, a huge controversy stained the duel.
During the first match, in Argentina, Santos managed to hold a 0-0 draw to conquer a great advantage to the second game, in their home. This, however, would change a few days later because of the information that one of the newest Brazilian team sign, Carlos Sánchez, was illegal to play. In 2015, while playing in River Plate, Sánchez received a three game "hook" after attacking a ball boy in what was his last official South-American tournament match.
CONMEBOL, however, approved amnesty for the player, reducing his punishment to just one match - which meant that he had to meet the suspension in his next duel, coincidently against Independiente, now in 2018. Because he was active in the tie against the Argentineans, the entity decided to punish the Brazilian team changing the result of the first duel to a 3-0 loss.
Such attitude outraged the Brazilians, their fans, and the press, especially because of the following factor: some days before the match, Santos checked the Comet system (CONMEBOL official online plataform) and Sánchez punishment was already expired there. Even though the board - which shown a little bit of amateurism in the situation - could have done other researches, they decided to trust what the screen was showing; something that angered even more the supporters.
In this week decisive match, Pacaembu, Santos second home, blown up into a horrific violent scenario, with fans throwing bombs and fighting police officers, while some others trespassed the field, trying to attack Independiente players and staff. With an irreversible chaos, the referee decided to end the match even before the second half regular time expired. This lead to the Brazilian team desqualification, considering that the game was scoreless back then. Now, River Plate and Independiente are set to face each other in another huge Argentieans showdown.
Even though the third clash from the round of sixteen was much more peaceful out of field than the second one, Estudiantes and the current champion Grêmio had a real war between 180 minutes, with both teams winning their home matches by the score of 2-1. The Brazilian team, however, managed to advance after beating the Argentineans by 5-3 in the penaly shoot out.
The last duel had Argentina's underdog Atlético Tucuman - which got to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history - beating Atletico Nacional, from Colombia, with a 2-1 score in the aggregate result, considering their 2-0 victory at home and the 1-0 loss away. Now, Tucuman has another huge battle against the favorite Grêmio, to advance to the next round.
In the second bracket, Chile's biggest team, Colo Colo, managed to eliminate one of the most popular squads in Brazil, Corinthians, thanks to an away goal scored - since the aggregate result ended in a 2-2 tie. Curiously, the best players on those matches were former players of the Brazilian's squad biggest rival Palmeiras: the forward Lucas Barrios, that scored in the 2-1 loss, and the midfielder Jorge "El Mago" Valdivia.
Speaking of Palmeiras, this team is considered by many the biggest favorite to win the 2018 CONMEBOL Libertadores edition, especially because of the team quality, the investment they had done and their coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari, or simply Felipão. With that said, "Verdão" went to Paraguay to beat Cerro Porteño by the result of 2-0, with both goals scored by their forward Miguel Borja.
At home, 99% of the Brazilian local press thought Palmeiras would have an easy victory against the Paraguayans. This probably would be confirmed, however, Felipe Melo - former Brazil national team and now a "palmeirense" - harmed his own team after getting a red card with only 3 minutes of the 1st half, which resulted in the team holding the result in a 1-0 loss for almost 100 minutes, considering the additional time. Now, both Valdivia and Barrios will face Palmeiras at the quarter-finals, as Colo Colo has a hard mission to advance.
In the next matchup, another huge duel, this time between the Brazilians teams Cruzeiro and Flamengo, with the "Celeste" managing to advance. Cruzeiro shocked the whole country after a 2-0 victory in Maracanã, just needing to hold a simple 1-0 loss in Mineirão, their home, to reach the quarter-finals. Curiously, both teams are also at the semifinals of the Brazil's Cup, however, not facing each other.
Cruzeiro will now face the huge Argentinean team Boca Juniors, which had no problems in beating Libertad, from Paraguay, with a 2-0 victory home and a 4-2 win away. Both squads already decided a championship, in 1977, when Boca managed to conquer the title after a penalty shoot out, in a 1-1 aggregate result.
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