Manizales, Colombia (Sportsbooks) - Columbian club Once Caldas shockingly won the Copa Libertadores title Thursday night with a 2-0 penalty shootout win over Argentinean side Boca Juniors. After the first leg of the final finished in a scoreless draw, the second leg ended 1-1 after 90 minutes of play. That sent the match straight into the penalty shootout, where neither team put forth an impressive performance. Still, when all was said and done, Once Caldas escaped with the shocking win to become just the second Colombian club in history to capture the competition. Once Caldas, playing in front of its home crowd, actually led for most of the match after an early goal by John Viafara. Boca, though, battled back with a strike of its own in the 52nd minute. Nicolas Burdisso headed home a free kick to even the score at 1-1, but that would not be enough for favored Boca. The penalties was a poor exhibition as both clubs failed to score on their first opportunity. Once Caldas' Elkin Soto then converted in the second round before Boca followed with yet another miss, something that would become a consistent trend. Jorge Agudelo converted the other penalty for once Caldas, while Boca missed on all four of its attempts to allow the underdogs to capture the trophy. |
