Tomás Costa vs Vélez Sársfield - Golazo

You can follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook.

On 3 March 2011 Vélez Sársfield hosted Chilean champions Universidad Cátolica in group four of the 2011 Copa Libertadores. The home side had established a 3-1 half-time lead but had a player sent off early in the second half.

On 74 minutes former Rosario Central player Tomás Costa scored this goal to get the Chilean side back into the game. UC eventually won the game 3-4 with two late goals to secure their first ever away win against Argentine opposition in the Copa Libertadores.

Any Rosario Central fans would have to have been feeling quite bitter, Costa was one of their star players that was poached by Portuguese side Benfica during their finacial troubles in 2007-08 (others being Angel Di Maria & Andrés Díaz). Costa never settled in at Benfica and has been loaned back to Universidad Cátolica meanwhile Rosario Central sunk into the Argentine 2nd division last season and are stuck in a tough battle to return to the Primera División.

Part of the Golazo series.

Vélez Sársfield 3-4 Universidad Cátolica

On 3 March 2011 Vélez Sársfield hosted Chilean champions Universidad Cátolica in group four of the 2011 Copa Libertadores. Both of the clubs were led by Argentine born managers, Vélez by their former player Ricardo Gareca and UC by former Spain international Juan Antonio Pizzi.

After the Chileans established a shock 0-1 lead through Argentine midfielder Lucas Pratto, Vélez stamped their authority on the game scoring three goals (through Fernando Ortiz, Augusto Férnandez & Emiliano Papa) to establish a 3-1 half time lead.

The turning point of the game can be seen as the sending off of Fernando Ortiz early in the second half. The expulsion clearly gave a confidence boost to Pizzi's team who had already made a strong demonstration of their never say die attitude to overcome Colo-Colo's seven point advantage at the top of the Chilean league to win their 10th national championship in December 2010.

Former Rosario Central midfielder Tomás Costa reduced the deficit with a cracking strike on 74 minutes and UC continued to go forward in search of an equaliser which eventually came in the 88th minute through Lucás Pratto's second goal of the game, nothing less than the visitors deserved for their second half endeavour.

Vélez then pushed forward in search of a winner leaving themselves wide open at the back for second half substitute Francisco Pizarro to grab the dramatic winning goal for the visitors in injury time. He was the first non-Argentine player to find his way onto the scoresheet.

Juan Antonio Pizzi can be rightly proud of his players and the fact that they showed the neccessary skill and determination to give UC their first ever away win against Argentine opposition in the Copa Libertadores.

For more great games involving South American teams, check out the rest of the Partidazo series.

Part of the game of the week series.

Grupo 4, Copa Libertadores 2011 - highlights

  Reports & highlights of Group 4 in the 2011 Copa Libertadores.

Results

15-02-11
Vélez Sársfield (Arg)	3-0	Caracas FC (Ven)
16-02-11
Unión Española (Chi)	2-2	Universidad Cátolica (Chi)
03-03-11
Vélez Sársfield (Arg)	3-4	Universidad Cátolica (Chi)
Caracas FC (Ven)	2-0	Unión Española (Chi)
09-03-11
Universidad Cátolica (Chi)	1-3	Caracas FC (Ven)
10-03-11
Unión Española (Chi)	2-1	Vélez Sársfield (Arg)
22-03-11
Caracas FC (Ven)	0-2	Universidad Cátolica (Chi)
24-03-11
Vélez Sársfield (Arg)	2-1	Unión Española (Chi)
07-04-11
Unión Española (Chi)	1-2	Caracas FC (Ven)
Universidad Cátolica (Chi)	0-0	Vélez Sársfield (Arg)
14-04-11
Universidad Cátolica (Chi)	2-1	Unión Española (Chi)
Caracas FC (Ven)	0-3	Vélez Sársfield (Arg)

Table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Universidad Católica	6	3	2	1	11	9	+2	11
Vélez Sársfield	6	3	1	2	13	8	+5	10
Caracas	6	3	0	3	8	10	−2	9
Unión Española	6	1	1	4	6	11	−5	4

Match reports

Round 1

Vélez Sársfield got their Copa Libertadores 2011 campaign off to a great start with a 3-0 win against Caracas FC. Maxi Moralez scored from long range to make in 1-0 at half time. New recruit from Godoy Cruz Davíd Ramírez hit another special long range strike for 2-0 and then Juan Manuel Martínez scored a late penalty for the third. The other game between the group's two Chilean sides ended in a 2-2 draw after Unión Española hit a late penalty to equalise against Universidad Cátolica.

Round 2

The third game in the group was a historic one in which Universidad Cátolica recorded their first ever away win against Argentine opposition in the Copa Libertadores coming back from 3-1 down against Vélez Sársfield. Argentine midfielder Tomás Costa got the visitors back into the game with a great long range goal and gave them a platform to win the game 3-4 with two late goals.

In the other game Venezuelan side Caracas FC secured their first win of the campaign with a 2-0 win against Unión Española who now lie bottom of the group.

Round 3

 After their hugely impressive away win against Vélez in round two Universidad Cátolica collapsed to an unexpected 1-3 home defeat to Caracas FC. All four of the goals came in an eight minute blitz at the beginning of the second half.

The following day Vélez Sársfield suffered a 2-1 away defeat at Unión Española, a result which left the Argentine side at the bottom of the group and Caracas as the stand alone leaders, positions that would have been difficult to predict after Vélez's 3-0 opening defeat of the Venezuelans.

Round 4

Universidad Cátolica retook leadership of the group by inflicting a 0-2 home defeat on Caracas with both of the goals coming in the second half. José Villanueva scored the first after Caracas failed to clear the danger then late in the game Lucas Pratto was allowed to run through the home teams defence for the second.

Vélez Sársfield beat Unión Españonla to go second in the group behind Universidad Cátilica but the Argentine team's two remaining games are both away from home.

Round 5

Unión Española were eliminated after a 1-2 home defeat against Caracas FC who lead the group going into the final round of fixtures.Sebastián Jaime put the Chileans ahead with a powerful header after only three minutes but Caracas levelled the scores before half time with a deflected shot from Louis Peña.

After the seven goal thriller in their first encounter Universidad Cátolica and Vélez Sársfield played out a tame 0-0 draw meaning that Vélez would more than likely need to beat Caracas in Venezuela and UC would qualify with a draw against Unión Española. Leonardo Monje wasted a brilliant opportunity for Unión before half time hitting the post after Caracas goalkeeper Renny Vega gifted him posession about three yards from goal. Josef Martínez bagged an 82nd minute winner for the Venezuelans with a nice turn and shot.

Round 6

Caracas went into the final round as group leaders needing only a draw to progress to the knockout phase but they ended up losing 0-3 to Vélez Sársfield in front of their own fans. Maxi Moralez put the Argentine side ahead in the first half and Santiago Silva made sure of the win with two second half goals, the first was a cross that went over the keeper's head into the net and the second was a typical Silva header.

Universidad Cátolica secured the other place in the knockout phase with a 2-1 win against fellow Chileans Unión Española who were already out of the reckoning. They had to come back from a goal down to secure progress. Kevin Harbottle put Unión ahead at the beginning of the second half but Pablo Calandria scored the equaliser only two minutes later and UC's winner came from an unfortunate deflected own goal from Gioivanny Espinoza.

Back to Group stage overview page

For more South American football highlights, including the Argentine and Brazilian leagues, the pick of the rest and other international tournaments:

click here

Game of the week: 1 December 2010, Cobreloa 2-3 Universidad Cátolica

OK, so the standard of football in Chile is generally not as high as Argentina and Brazil, however this game between championship chasing Universidad Cátolica and two times Copa Libertadores finalists Cobreloa was a brilliant match.

Universidad Cátolica and championship rivals Colo-Colo were tied on points at the top of the table with two games of the season remaining. They kicked off at the same time on 28 November 2010 with the pressure on both sides to win. UC came back from 1-0 down to establish a 2-1 lead only for Cobreloa to equalise with 17 minutes to go. Argentine midfielder Juan Eluchans then hit a dramatic winner for Universidad Cátolica on 88 minutes and at the final whistle it became clear that Colo-Colo had lost against O'Higgins leaving UC three points clear with only one game of the season left.

Part of the game of the week series.