Santos will meet their local rivals Corinthians in the Copa Libertadores semi-finals after beating Vélez Sarsfield 4-2 on penalties at the Vila Belmiro on Thursday night.
A tremendous defensive effort from Vélez kept the Peixe out of the tie for 77 minutes, some 40 of those played with 10 men as goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero was sent off for fouling Neymar.
Alan Kardec was the man who erased Santos’ 1-0 deficit from the first leg, as the forward smashed the ball home just inside the box after some great work from Léo and Ganso.
The Paulista side’s late winner meant the tie went straight to penalties. Kardec, Ganso and Elano had no troubles converting their kicks, while Rafael made two stunning saves to deny Hector Canteros and Emiliano Papa. Sebastian Dominguez had slotted his spot-kick home to give Vélez Sarsfield some hope of a comeback, but Léo sent substitute goalkeeper Marcelo Montoya the wrong way to send Santos into the last four of South America’s most prestigious competition.
SANTOS: Rafael; Henrique (Maranhão), Edu Dracena, Durval, Juan (Léo); Arouca (Wason Rentería), Adriano, Elano, Paulo Henrique Ganso; Neymar, Alan Kardec
VÉLEZ SARSFIELD: Marcelo Barovero; Gino Peruzzi, Fernando Ortiz, Sebá Domínguez, Emiliano Papa; Augusto Fernández (Hector Canteros), Fabián Cubero, Víctor Zapata, Alejandro Cabral (Iván Bella); Juan Manuel Martínez, Mauro Obolo (Germán Montoya)
