Brazil's black day in Libertadores Cup
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It was a black night for Brazil in the Libertadores Cup on Wednesday as holder Internacional, favorite Cruzeiro, Brazilian champion Fluminense and Gremio all crashed out of the competition.
Only Santos, which eliminated America of Mexico 1-0 on aggregate, is left to fly the Brazilian flag in the last eight.
Inter, champion in 2006 and last year, lost 2-1 at home to Penarol to go out 3-2 on aggregate. The Uruguayans came from a goal down to score twice in the opening five minutes of the second half.
"We all made errors," Brazil striker Leandro Damiao said. "It's lamentable to suffer elimination this way in our own home."
The biggest shock of the night was Cruzeiro's 2-0 defeat at home to Once Caldas, which advanced 3-2 on aggregate.
Cruzeiro had won its group at a canter with 16 points out of a possible 18, scoring 20 goals and conceding just one, while Once Caldas of Colombia had scraped into the knockout phase.
Both teams had a player sent off when the score was 0-0.
"We were an apathetic team today that didn't play well in the decisive moment, which shouldn't have happened," Cruzeiro coach Cuca said.
"Today was so black that even the referee erred in favor of our adversaries," he said, referring to disallowed goal from Gilberto.
Fluminense carried a 3-1 lead with it to Asuncion to play Libertad but failed to hold out, conceding twice in the last five minutes for a 3-0 defeat that put the Paraguayans through 4-3 on aggregate. Fluminense's Mariano was sent off in added time.
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