RIO DE JANEIRO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Gremio kept alive their hopes of advancing to the Copa Libertadores knockout stage with a 4-0 home victory over Bolivian side the Strongest on Wednesday.

Venezuelan playmaker Yeferson Soteldo opened the scoring with a 14th-minute strike before Joao Pedro, Everton and Gustavo Nunes added second-half goals at Couto Pereira stadium in Curitiba.

The match was Gremio's first competitive outing in almost a month as the Porto Alegre club grapples with the impact of unprecedented floods that have killed more than 150 people and left much of Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul underwater.

"We played a great game from start to finish," Gremio manager Renato Portaluppi told a news conference. "Our dedication to training and our professionalism paid off today, but we're still a long way from our rivals in terms of our rhythm and match fitness."

Gremio, whose Arena do Gremio stadium is unavailable because of severe damage caused by the floodwaters, are now third in Group C with six points, having played two fewer games than group leaders The Strongest, who have 10 points so far.

In other Copa Libertadores fixtures on Wednesday, Huachipato won 4-3 at Estudiantes, Colo-Colo drew 1-1 at Cerro Porteno, Fluminense prevailed 3-2 at home to Alianza Lima, Sao Paulo eased to a 2-0 home win over Talleres Cordoba and Barcelona SC edged to a 2-1 win over Cobresal. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)