Palmeiras, coached by the Portuguese Abel Ferreira, failed to qualify for the final of the Copa Libertadores football after losing, on Thursday, against the Argentine Boca Juniors, on penalties.
In the second leg of the semifinals, Boca Juniors took the lead through Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani in the 23rd minute, but played the last half hour with 10 players, after Marcos Rojo was sent off.
Playing at home, at the Allianz Parque, in São Paulo, Palmeiras took advantage of the numerical advantage to tie the game, with a shot from outside the area by Uruguayan compatriot Joaquín Piquerez, in the 73rd minute.
As the first leg, played at the Boca Juniors stadium in Buenos Aires, ended in a 0-0 draw, the semi-finals were decided by penalties.
There goalkeeper Sergio Romero, who already kept the game tied after Rojo’s expulsion, shone with two penalty saves by Raphael Veiga and Gustavo Gómez, which allowed the Argentines to win 2-4.
Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira and Palmeiras were looking to qualify for the final of the Copa Libertadores for the third time in four years, after appearances in 2020 and 2021, which ended with the title in both. In 2022, the São Paulo team had also been eliminated in the semifinals.
Boca Juniors will seek to win their seventh title in the most important club competition in South America against Fluminense, who beat Internacional 1-2 on Wednesday, with two goals in six minutes.
The final of the Copa Libertadores will be played on November 4, at the Maracaná stadium, in Rio de Janeiro, home of Fluminense.
Fluminense played the final of the Copa Libertadores in 2008, but lost on penalties to Liga de Quito, from Ecuador.
Boca’s triumph also breaks a sequence of three consecutive years in which the Libertadores finalists have always been Brazilian clubs: Palmeiras-Santos (2020), Palmeiras-Flamengo (2021) and Flamengo-Athletico Paranaense (2022).
Source: TSF
