Atlético Mineiro thrashed São Paulo 4-1 on Wednesday night in Belo Horizonte to progress to the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores, going through 6-2 on aggregate.
Atlético took a 2-1 lead into the game, having won the first leg in São Paulo, and a revival from Ney Franco’s team was never on the cards after three goals from Jô and one from Diego Tardelli left them battered and bruised at the Independência.
Cuca’s team were in the mood straight from kick-off, with Ronaldinho firing a free-kick against the bar in the early stages. But Atlético did not have to wait long to make the break through.
São Paulo were struggling to adapt to the pace and skill of the home side’s attack and on 17 minutes Diego Tardelli, from the right hand side, and found Bernard, free in the box, who was tackled by Rafael Toloi but the ball fell for Jô to fire emphatically past Rogério Ceni.
Ganso had the away side’s best chance in the first half when put through against Victor but saw his shot blocked.
The score was 1-0 at half-time but Atlético came out for the second half flying and scored three goals in 10 minutes to put the result out of reach for São Paulo.
Firstly, 17 minutes into the second half, Jô got his second after Leandro Donizete headed the ball into his path for him to fire through Ceni’s legs. Two minutes later, Diego Tardelli anticipated a header from Rafael Toloi back to Ceni following a long ball and managed to lift the ball over the veteran keeper to make it 3-0 on the night.
And then Jô completed his hat-trick five minutes later when Ronaldinho broke down the left and played a disguised pass to the edge of the box for the arriving former Manchester City striker to drill the ball low into the bottom corner.
São Paulo managed a consolation goal through Luis Fabiano with 15 minutes to go when a shot from left was spilled by Victor into the striker’s path and the ball trickled into the net.
The game finished 4-1 and showed a real statement of intent from an Atlético side who must now be considered one of the favourites to go and win the competition and will now face either Palmeiras or Tijuana (MEX) in the next round.
Goals: Jô at 17 ‘/ Q1 (1-0); Jô, at 17’ / 2 T (2-0), Diego Tardelli, at 19 ‘/ 2 T (3-0); Jô, at 24’ / 2 T ( 4-0) and Luis Fabiano, 30 ‘/ 2 T (4-1)
ATLÉTICO-MG: Victor; Marcos Rocha, Gilberto Silva, Réver, Richarlyson; Pierre, Leandro Donizete (Josué, 27’/2ºT); Ronaldinho, Bernard (Luan, 32’/2ºT), Diego Tardelli (Rosinei, 37’/2ºT); Jô. Coach: Cuca.
SÃO PAULO: Rogério Ceni; Paulo Miranda (Silvinho, half-time), Rafael Toloi, Edson Silva, Carleto; Wellington, Denilson (Ademilson, 20’/2ºT), Jadson (Maicon, 25’/2ºT), Ganso; Douglas, Luís Fabiano. Coach: Ney Franco.
