Santos picks apart Cucuta, heads to quarterfinals
CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) - Brazil's Santos took apart a consistently outmatched Cucuta 2-0 on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores.
The Sao Paulo club had already beaten the Colombian club 2-0 at home in the first leg of the two-game series and will next face America of Mexico.Veteran striker Kleber Pereira took advantage of a rebound to open the scoring at 40 minutes and on-loan forward Lima added Santos' second goal at 52 minutes on a counterattack.
Failing to put together a coherent attack, Cucuta was saved from an even heavier defeat by keeper Leandro Castellanos as Santos dominated from the start, with five shots on goal in the first half to just one for Cucuta.
Kleber Pereira hit a post just 10 seconds into the contest.
Santos' Colombian midfielder Mauricio "Mao" Molina consistently tormented his compatriots, linking well with Kleber Pereira and Lima. The first goal came from Castellanos' rebound of a Molina shot.
The match was contested in General Santander stadium before 24,000 fans.
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