Corinthians lucky late win, Toluca only need 10 - Copa Libertadores

Enrique Triverio, man of the match for Toluca. (photo: espn.cl)

Following The Strongest' sensational win over São Paulo yesterday evening, three other Brazilian sides entered the competition, with mixed success. 

Corinthians played in the Chilean desert, visiting Cobresal, champions of the 14/15 Clausura in their country. The whole affair was less than unspectacular, ending in heartbreak for Cobresal. After the regular 90 minutes were up already, Miguel Escalona deflected a cross from the right unluckily into his own goal. 

During the winter, the Brazilian champion had suffered a player exodus and it was quite uncertain, how they could perform this year. It looks like these worries were justified, as Cobresal was the better team in a weak game. Corinthians managed a total of one shot on target, even when you're in a desert, that's not good enough. 

Talking of desert, the scene of the match was probably when electricity failed the stadium in Chile and it went dark for several minutes.

Darkness: The game between Cobresal and Corinthians lacked floodlights.

Over in Peru, Atlético Mineiro survived an early shock and beat Melgar 1-2. The Peruvians took a 14th minute lead Omar Fernández, who banged home a rebound from right in front of the goalline. Mineiro, in their ninth Copa Libertadores season, needed just seven minutes to get even. Rafael Carioca equalised with a beautiful strike into the top corner. 

The fact that Patric added another one just before halftime was a bummer for the brave team from Peru, that went into the game as big outsiders. They tried everything to make it 2-2, were the better team in the last quarter of an hour, but could not find a way to make it count.

Despite Atlético Mineiro's win, they will need to improve, if they want to have a chance to compete for the title. Maybe newly signed Robinho will give them just that edge. 

Mexico celebrated the first success for Toluca. Despite playing with 10 men for nearly an hour due to Moisés Velasco's stupid punch into an opposing player's face, they managed to beat Grêmio 2-0 at home.  Enrique Triverio turned into the home crowd's hero, scoring both goals for his club. 

Firstly, in the 46th minute, he headed home a long cross from the left into the far post. Afterwards, the Mexican converted a penalty after 77 minutes to give his squad the victory. 

Throughout the game, Grêmio disappointed and were the worse team, even with a man advantage. Like this, they will have no chance to get out of the group that also includes San Lorenzo and LDU Quito.