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Palmeiras won the Copa Libertadores for the second year in a row as an extra-time goal from Deyverson secured a 2-1 win over Flamengo in an absorbing all-Brazilian final.
It is the third time the São Paulo club have won South America’s equivalent of Europe’s Champions League, following victories in 1999 and 2020.
Raphael Veiga put Palmeiras ahead after five minutes in Montevideo. A counterattack started by the defender Gustavo Gómez found the right-back Mayke, who was played onside by the former Arsenal defender David Luiz, and his low cross reached was slotted past Diego Alves by Veiga.
Flamengo’s equaliser did not arrive until the 72nd minute, courtesy of Gabriel Barbosa – the scorer of both goals in Flamengo’s 2-1 win against River Plate in the 2019 final. The man nicknamed Gabigol beat Weverton in Palmeiras’s goal from close range, after being set up by Giorgian de Arrascaeta.
Nothing could separate the sides after an evenly-matched 90 minutes but it did not take long for Palmeiras to regain the upper hand in extra time as a slip by the Manchester United loanee Andreas Pereira five minutes into the extra period let Deyverson in to calmly beat Alves.
Deyverson, who had only just come on in place of a fatigued Veiga, returned to Palmeiras in June after a loan to Alavés, and was in tears after his first goal in this season’s Copa Libertadores.
The result is a personal triumph for Palmeiras’s Portuguese coach, Abel Ferreira, who becomes the first European to win the Libertadores twice following victory over Santos in January. It is also the first time a team have successfully defended the Libertadores title since Boca Juniors in 2001, while Palmeiras’s success was the eighth since 2010 for a Brazilian club.
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