Second-half penalties for both teams ensured this one finished level. After an uneventful first half, Santos took the lead with their penalty after 55 minutes. Elano’s very good spot kick was buried into the bottom left. The impressive 23 year-old Zé Eduardo won the penalty after being brought down by the Cerro Porteño goalkeeper.
The equaliser came deep into added time; the penalty was awarded for a foul on the edge of the area by Edu Dracena on substitute Freddy Bareiro. It was clumsy, it was needless and it cost Santos the win. Roberto Nanni coolly sent the goalie the wrong way and earned a valuable point for his side.
Even if we forget about how late the Cerro Porteño goal was, Santos will still have felt hugely disappointed with a draw. Despite not playing brilliantly they restricted their Paraguayan opponents to long-range efforts for the vast majority of the game and at one-nil they still looked the most likely to get the next goal. It’s now two draws in two Libertadores games for Santos and they sit third in Group 5.
During the game GUSU’s attentions were focused largely on Danilo and Neymar for Santos and Juan Iturbe for Cerro Porteño who all started. Neymar and Iturbe provided the greatest attacking threat for their respective sides without either really performing to their best. That said, if it wasn’t for some wasteful finishing Neymar could have ended the night with a couple of assists and certainly demonstrated his strength and pace regularly. He did however lose the ball frequently when trying to run at the Cerro Porteño players. Like Neymar, Iturbe found himself dispossessed far more often than he would have liked but showed flashes of his immense pace and did create some chances for his teammates who failed to convert.
Danilo put in a very decent performance. Playing in a defensive midfield position he made loads of tackles and interceptions and played countless accurate passes. If there are any chalkboards of Copa Libertadores games his would be beautiful.
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