Copa Libertadores 2012, Matchday 4: Neymar Nets Hat Trick, Boca Lose At Home

Two of the Thursday matches in Copa Libertadores were fairly straightforward one-goal wins by teams in better form than their opponents. And then there was Godoy Cruz vs. Atletico Nacional. The teams traded blows in a ridiculously open match, eventually scoring eight goals between them.

Emelec defended well in this one and goalkeeper Esteban Dreer had a good game, but there was nothing they could do about Flamengo’s goal. Ronaldinho set it up with a stellar heel flick into the path of Vagner Love, who placed a perfect low finish past Dreer at the far post in the 48th minute. That goal would be all they needed to secure all three points and go top of Group 2.

Neymar stole the show in Copa Libertadores on Wednesday night, scoring a hat trick for Santos. Elsewhere in South America, Velez Sarsfield and Boca Juniors were disappointing while Corinthians won comfortably.

After a disappointing start to the Copa Libertadores, Santos reasserted their status as favorites in the competition with a dominating performance against Internacional. Neymar was absolutely masterful, scoring a hat trick and only narrowly missing with a couple of other opportunities. His first goal was a penalty, but his second was one of the goals of the season; he scored at the end of a jaw-dropping maze of a 70-yard run through the entire Inter defense before scoring with a simple chip.

Lionel Messi lit the football world on fire with his five-goal performance in the Champions League. It was stupendous, awesome and every other word of fantasmicalness that you can think of. Apparently, Neymar wasn’t too impressed. Either that or he was so impressed that it made him extra superhuman too.

Neymar may not have matched Messi’s five goals (the slacker only had three), but his second goal was better than anything Messi did today. It was better than anything else that anyone has done in a while.

Union Española did enough to keep their position on top of Group 3 on Tuesday, while Vasco da Gama recorded their first Copa Libertadores win this season and Universidad de Chile were held to a draw. Both Vasco and La U, despite being favorites in their groups coming into the competition, appear to have a lot of work left to do in order to get to get to the knockout stages.

A simple look at the box score tells much of the story in this match. UC showed up to kick and claw, and they did enough to earn a draw. They opened the scoring in the 39th minute, when Enzo Andia finished off a free kick by Michael Ríos with a brilliant header. Union Española would earn a penalty in the 42nd minute, when UC goalkeeper Cristopher Toselli smashed into Jorge Ampuero in the penalty area. The visitors were not happy with the referee, who made the correct decision.

The fourth round of fixtures in the 2012 Copa Libertadores is the best so far in the competition, with some of the competition’s biggest teams facing massive tests. After taking the third round of fixtures off, the competition’s Brazilian sides return with a vengeance. Most of the week’s best fixtures feature Brazilian sides.

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. ET