Internacional Vs. Juan Aurich, 2012 Copa Libertadores: Easy Win For Hosts

Internacional began their 2012 Copa Libertadores campaign with a straightforward home victory against Juan Aurich. They Brazilians couldn’t have had it much easier - their guests were thoroughly impotent even before being reduced to ten men 36 minutes into the match, and after Cesar Ortiz picked up his second yellow card it was simply a matter of seeing the game out.

By then the hosts had already gone 1-0 up, with Leandro doing an excellent job of holding up possession and allowing Oscar to blast past Diego Penny to open the scoring. The game would stay at 1-0 for most of the second half, although not for lack of effort on Internacional’s part - the favourites came up with twenty shots to Juan Aurich’s two - but the hosts would finally put the game to bed in the 81st minute, when Jesus Datolo slammed a rebound off the crossbar and in to make it 2-0. That goal would have defused the tension had there been any... but, of course, there really wasn’t. 2-0 would hold as the final score, and Internacional start their Copa run in pretty much perfect fashion.