On Wednesday night, Carlos Tevez became the first Argentine ever to win both the Copa Libertadores and the European Cup as – in spite of his missing two good chances before half time – his Manchester United side overcame Chelsea on penalties to claim their third continental trophy. His former club Boca Juniors, meanwhile, remain on course for a possible meet-up with their ex-striker in the World Club Cup (or whatever it’s to be called this year) in Japan in December, advancing to the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores after easily beating Atlas of Mexico in what had looked, prior to the match, like a tough assignment. MartÃn Palermo scored a first-half hat trick and Boca never looked back. Read on for a report, and the goals on video…
The first leg of the quarter-final had finished 2-2 in Liniers – Boca playing at home in Vélez Sársfield’s ground due to a stadium ban on La Bombonera which will remain in force for the semi – and the return, at altitude in Guadalajara against a side who’d beaten Boca easily in the same stadium during the group stage, looked like a tough task to work round after the two away goals shipped in the first leg. With a 0-0 or 1-1 draw, Atlas would advance, and with this knowledge in mind Boca came out at their hosts from the off.
Juan Román Riquelme, largely anonymous in the first leg, was vastly improved tonight alongside youngster Cristián Chávez in midfield, although a slow start saw Ulises Mendivil miss a good chance for Atlas just over a minute in. With the opening exchanges the ball moved from one end of the pitch to the other, Boca looking better in possession but Atlas pacy on the counter-attack, if lacking precision in the final third. In the 19th minute, Palermo broke the deadlock. Latching onto a pass from Riquelme he simply steered it towards goal. It was hardly his best shot, and home goalkeeper Jorge Bava got to it with his leg, but it bobbled on and crossed the line – just – before Bava could scramble back and push it back out.
With the aggregate lead Boca could relax a little, but they still knew that their opponents had the greater away goals tally and would be on course to go through if they could equalise. Whilst Atlas continued to counter weakly, their visitors tried to push their advantage home. In a four minute spell around ten before the break, Palermo put the match and the tie as a whole beyond the Mexicans with two well-taken goals. The first came with a confident right-footed finish from the right channel after Rodrigo Palacio had taken down a Riquelme long ball well and centred for his strike partner. If that was good, the second was even better. Chávez found El Loco just outside the box, unmarked, and moving slightly to the left, Palermo lifted the ball up and over the goalkeeper with his left foot, and watched with the rest of the stadium as it dropped, and dropped, and dropped – all the way into the far corner of the goal.
The match was just 37 minutes old but with the goal, Atlas’s last lingering hopes evaporated. Three goals without reply in the second half, against the defending champions with MartÃn Palermo on fire at the other end of the pitch were to prove far, far too much – and the difficulty was only compounded when just four minutes after the break, Jorge Bava took Palermo out just outside the penalty box. The home goalkeeper had to go, and a man down Atlas never looked like getting back into the tie.
The holders, then, advance to the last four where they’ll face the winners of América vs. Santos later on Wednesday night, or – should they get past LDU Quito – San Lorenzo. The latter tie is possible because if two sides from the same country reach the semi-final, CONMEBOL will scrap the ‘tree‘ in order to avoid an all-one-nation final. Likewise, if Santos (who lost 2-0 in Mexico last week) do get past Santos, they’ll face the winners of Fluminense vs. Sao Paulo, and thus Boca could yet face LDU Quito themselves.
Atlas 0 – 3 Boca Juniors
Filed under: Argentine football, Argentines abroad, Boca Juniors, Carlos Ischia, Carlos Tevez, Continental football, Copa Libertadores, Fixtures, Football, Football clubs, Football managers, Goal videos, International football, Juan Román Riquelme, MartÃn Palermo, Players, Results, Rodrigo Palacio | Tagged: Argentine football, goal video, Copa Libertadores, South American football, Libertadores goals, Atlas Boca, Libertadores quarter-final
Atlas’ players should personally refund everyone who bought a ticket. Cowardly, gutless performance. Not taking away from Boca, nothing they do in this competition surprises me, but Atlas really laid down and died in front of their own fans. It’s one thing to be afraid to lose – they were afraid to win.
Atlas, confused. Palermo, looked like a 201 goal scorer and thanking Riquelme and/or Palacio for the last 50. Riquelme, finally. Dale Boca.
Just back in after a long night ! That’s the Boca I like to see ! Not flubbing easy chances in front of the goal, quick, crisp midfield play, and low and behold, Migliore didn’t embarass himself. You know it is Boca’s night when Palermo scores three goals, all with his foot, and your backup, less than stellar, keeper makes it through the match without giving up a goal. Well Seba, I may change my opinion slightly about Migliore, but his positioning still drives me bananas !
As for Atlas giving up, I think that first Boca goal really took the steam out of them, and the second was a crusher.
And one more observation, I was not long ago calling for a Riquelme/Gracian combo, when I should have been calling for a Riquelme/Chavez combo. Great move by Ischia with immediate dividends.
I know I’m always sticking up for goalkeepers – there’s a reason for that ;) – but as far as backup keepers go, you could do a lot worse than Migliore.
Congrats Tevez! He’s a very solid player but wasn’t much danger during the champions league final. I haveto give it to hmi though he put away that penalty with no problem. The other superstar, Ronaldo played well during the game but missed the penalty. I guess the balance each other out pretty well. How do you guys think Tevez played in the final?
I thought Carlitos played very well the first period and with a little luck would have had a goal with the header. He was unable also to get square on that perfect cross from Rooney, but in his defense, his view of the cross was mostly blocked by a defender. He was less involved in the second period, BUT he started penalties off with an effortless winner that set the tone. A decent performance overall and he played every minute.
what an absolutely horrible night for football .the scum win in europe and the scum win in south america
Viva la scum !!!!
lol @ Johnny!
Depends on what the picture next to the word scum is in your dictionary, really.
In my European dictionary…there’s a picture of JT spitting on Carlitos (I saw it during the incident in which Drogba saw the red card).
Too bad, JT. Carlitos did the double and you stepped on your saliva and totally bottled during the most important penalty kick of your life.
In my South American dictionary, the scum are red devils! And also Bosteros and Gallinas!
Breaking news: There is a very important offer from a team playing in the MLS for MartÃn Palermo.
Will he stay or will he go?
I don’t have the name of the club. All I know is that the offer is believed to be HUGE.
Seba-I guess that is not surprising news about Palermo. The MLS seems to be focussing more and more on the over 30, almost vintage, Argentine player. I also read somewhere, maybe a week or so back, that Corinthians was making inquiries. It looks like Boca has stepped back from the lifetime contract for Martin, and you have to wonder if they are shopping him. At times this year I have thought, great !, get some cash for Palermo and use it for a younger, faster player or, with Palacio leaving, two players. But after performances like last night, I think, hmmm, I don’t know.
And on another transfer topic, it appears that Quito’s Guerron is the Boca target of the week to replace Palacio.
And, I don’t like John Terry either ! In fact I almost dislike him as much as Ballack !
You may not like United, but it’s good for football when the team that scores more goals than anyone else, every single season, wins trophies. Chelsea are efficient and professional, and also deadly dull and overly physical. It would have been awful for football for them to be champions of Europe.