Cerro Porteño Vs. Santos FC, 2011 Copa Libertadores: Santos Up 3-1 (4-1) At Halftime

Unlike most of Cerro Porteño’s matches in the knockout stages up until this point in the Copa Libertadores, this match has been anything but boring. Cerro are in big trouble and in need of four more goals to advance to the final, but at the very least, they’ve been forced to come out of their shell against Santos FC. However, they’re only doing so because Santos has such a big lead, although Cerro has one goal of their own. At halftime of the second leg of their semifinal tie, Santos lead by a score of 3-1, 4-1 on aggregate.

The first goal, which was a virtual dagger, happened just three minutes in. Neymar drew a free kick on the left wing which was taken by Elano, and Ze Eduardo headed home his ball at the near post. With Santos having a 2-0 lead and an away goal, Cerro were in big trouble. They were forced to start playing a more ambitious style, and they paid for it.

Santos added a second in the 28th minute, and it was caused by a comedy of errors. On a long ball forward from the Santos back line, Pedro Benitez hit a strong header back towards his goalkeeper, Diego Barreto. Barreto’s effort to push the ball away was absolutely terrible as he got way under the ball, barely grazing the underside, causing it to spin into the back of his net. Benitez was credited with the own goal.

Cerro has pulled one back, but it will almost certainly be nothing more than a consolation goal. Cesar Benitez was the scorer, heading a corner kick into the back of the net to make it 2-1. That goal was quickly erased, though, and Cerro’s deficit would go back to three goals just before the stroke of halftime, when Neymar scored to make it 3-1 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate. It would take nothing short of a literal act of God for Cerro to reach the final at this point.