Copa Libertadores Roundup, May 8
San Lorenzo won the opening home leg of its tie against River 2-1, but looked to be down and out when it trailed 2-0 midway through the second half and had been reduced to nine men after two expulsions.
Winger Matias Abelairas put River ahead on the night and on the away-goals rule when he scored with a 12th minute freekick.
San Lorenzo's hopes sank further when Diego Rivero was shown the red card just before halftime, and when Jonathan Botinellis was sent off for a foul and Sebastien Abreu converted the resultant penalty in the 61st minute, the 50,000 mostly River fans at the Monumental celebrated what appeared a certain victory.
However striker Gonzalo Bergessio drove home a powerful left-foot shot in the 69th minute to level the tie on aggregate, and four minute later his glancing header from a corner made it 2-2, with San Lorenzo up 4-3 on aggregate and the away goals rule dictating River needed another two goals to progress. Even against nine men, it could not manage one.
San Lorenzo will meet Ecuador's LDU Quito in the quarterfinals.
Santos set up a quarterfinal against America of Mexico with a 2-0 win over Cucuta on Thursday that completed a 4-0 aggregate win.
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.
The other quarterfinals, to be played May 14 and 21, will see an all-Brazilian clash between Fluminense and Sao Paulo while defending champion Boca Juniors of Argentina will meet Mexico's Atlas.
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