BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Botafogo overcame playing with 10 men to win its first Copa Libertadores title after beating fellow Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro 3-1 in the final at Monumental de Nunez Stadium on Saturday.
After just 30 seconds, midfielder Gregore, one of Botafogo's best players, hit the head of Fausto Vera with his foot and was given a straight red card.
“It was so hard to have one less so early in a final. It was an unfortunate move,” Botafogo defender Alexander Barboza said. “But Gregore deserves this title as much as we do. We made history and that won’t ever be erased.”
Winger Luiz Henrique scored first in the 35th minute from close range, and was fouled for the penalty shot converted by Alex Telles in the 44th.
Eduardo Vargas headed Mineiro's only goal in the 46th while Junior Santos, the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores with 10 goals, capped Botafogo's historic night with the third in injury time.
Brazil was assured of a sixth consecutive Copa Libertadores title and its 24th in history, just one less than Argentina.
It was also the third straight title for Rio de Janeiro clubs, after Fluminense in 2023 and Flamengo in 2022.
Botafogo, the last of the four big Rio clubs to win the Copa Libertadores, earned prize money of $23 million and a spot in the Club World Cup in the United States next year.
Despite sensationally losing Gregore, Botafogo reset and Luiz Henrique scored the opener. Henrique surged on the right flank and crossed to Marlon Freitas, who took a shot that was deflected. Henrique was in the right place to strike through the legs of goalkeeper Ederson.
Henrique and Ederson met again near the end of the first half when the striker surprised the keeper on the edge of the box. A penalty was given after a video review and left back Telles calmly slotted the ball home.
Mineiro came back with a more aggressive formation in the second half and was rewarded when veteran Hulk took a corner kick and Vargas, who replaced midfielder Gustavo Scarpa during the break, didn’t even need to jump to score with his head.
Mineiro had more chances to equalize through Deyverson in the 53rd, Hulk in the 56th, and Vargas in the 86th and 88th, all from close range.
But it was Botafogo’s Júnior Santos, who was sidelined by injury during the Copa, who scored the last goal.
“We just failed at getting some advantage at having one more player than them,” tearful Mineiro defender Rodrigo Battaglia said. “It was a very hard day for all of us.”
Botafogo coach Arthur Jorge joined Portuguese compatriots Jorge Jesus (Flamengo, 2019) and Abel Ferreira (Palmeiras, 2020 and 2021) as European coaches with a Copa Libertadores title.
Mineiro's Gabriel Milito missed the chance to be the first Argentine to win the tournament with a Brazilian club.
Botafogo also gave American owner John Textor his biggest trophy yet. Textor has been subject to criticism after unproven allegations about match-fixing when Botafogo squandered a 13-point lead last year and missed out on the league title.
“I grew up in Florida, which has a great connection with South American nations. For me, this is bigger than everything in Europe,” Textor said after the game.
He added the players he signed for Botafogo were free to choose their own path.
“What we do is to bring players, ask them to win trophies and then we honor their path. No multi-club (network) does that, an owner that leaves the decision to the player,” Textor said.
Next week, his team could win its first Brazilian title since 1995.
“I saw this was a hungry group of players since I joined,” said Telles, who joined Botafogo in mid-year. “No one was speaking about what happened last year, it hurt us all. We knew we had a burden to carry, to give something back to our fans. Now we did it.”
Botafogo was relegated from the league in 2020 but has risen to prominence again with Textor’s investment. He was part of a wave of foreign owners who came into Brazilian soccer after a 2021 law change paved the way for private investors.
Mineiro also has wealthy owner in Brazilian billionaire Rubens Menin, a construction mogul.
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Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Debora Rey And Mauricio Savarese, The Associated Press
