Juan Roman Riquelme scored one goal and set up two more to lead Boca Juniors into the Copa Libertadores quarter-finals with a 3-2 away win over Chilean side Union Espanola on Wednesday night.
The win earned Boca a 5-3 aggregate victory and set up a last-eight meeting
with either Fluminense or Internacional.
Juan-Manuel Insaurralde opened the scoring with a left-footed strike in the
26th minute, the assist coming from a Riquelme free-kick.
Riquelme was again the provider four minutes into the second half, this time
teeing up forward Pablo Mouche for a neat right-footed finish past Union
Espanola goalkeeper Eduardo Lobos.
Jean-Paul Pineda reduced the deficit just after the hour mark, but Riquelme
soon snuffed out any hopes of a comeback by making it 3-1 on the night.
Oscar Jaime netted a 70th-minute consolation for Union Espanola, after Agustin
Orion had saved an Emanuel Herrera penalty, but it was in vain for the
Chileans.
Riquelme was thrilled with his display, telling Fox Sports: "I'm enjoying
this. I'm helping the team. I do well because the team-mates are doing well.
"It was a great game. It is not easy for any team to score three goals away
from home. We deserved the win. Anyway, it is not easy for us at all, because
all the teams want to beat us.''
Boca will learn their quarter-final rivals on Thursday, when Fluminense and
Inter play in Rio de Janeiro after a goalless draw in Porto Alegre.
Brazilian giants Corinthians and Vasco da Gama also booked quarter-final berths
on Wednesday and will meet in the last eight.
Corinthians hammered Ecuador's Emelec 3-0 in Sao Paulo after a goalless draw in
the first leg.
Fabio Santos put Corinthians ahead in the sixth minute and Paulinho headed home
a Chicao free-kick 19 minutes into the second half before Alex sealed the
convincing win four minutes from time.
Vasco, meanwhile, lost 2-1 against Lanus in Argentina but won 5-4 on
penalties.
Nilton Ferreira's 18th-minute opener had put the Brazilian side in the driving
seat, but Lanus responded well and second-half goals from Mariano Pavone and
Teofilo Gutierrez made the tie level on aggregate.
Lanus forward Silvio Romero was the only player to miss from the spot in the
shootout, smashing his shot against the bar.
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