Corinthians embittered on Wednesday (12) the third elimination of their history in pre-liberators. The 2-0 win over Barcelona de Guayaquil, in Itaquera, was not enough for the need for the São Jorge Parque team, which had lost 3-0 in Ecuador.
To at least provoke the penalty shootout, the Parque São Jorge team needed to win by the same difference.
Even though he played better than he performed in the first confrontation, he lacked tranquility to convert to goals the various chances he created. It achieved this only two time, with Felix Torres, head, at the end of the first half, and with Carillo, at the end of the second stage.
In the final stage, Corinthians still played just over 25 minutes with one more after the Brazilian midfielder Leonai received a second yellow card and was sent off, but the owners of the house were not able to enjoy the numerical advantage.
With every passing minute, the anxiety of the players prevented the team from finishing the plays despite running the opposing area.
It was a difficult task.
Only five teams managed to reverse such an unfavorable score in Libertadores. The last one was in 2017, when River Plate lost 3-0 from Jorge Wilstermann, from Bolivia, in Cochabamba, and made 8-0 in Buenos Aires, for the quarterfinals.
Before falling against Barcelona, the São Jorge Parque club had two other eliminations in the preliminary phases of Libertadores.
The first and most traumatic was in 2011, when the team, with Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos and under the command of Tite, fell to Tolima, from Colombia, after a 0-0 draw at Pacaembu and a 2-0 victory of the home owners in Ibagué.
On the way back to Sao Paulo, the players were received with protests from the fans. With the failure in the project to return to the competition and the pressure of the fans, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos left the club-the striker retired, while the left back went to Anzhi, from Russia.
It was the first time that a Brazilian team fell into pre-liberators, which began in 2005. In 2017, with the increase in the number of participants, the model with three phases was instituted, with Brazilians entering the second.
Corinthians would get the classification in 2015, when it hit the Once Caldas, also from Colombia. In 2020, he would be eliminated again in the second phase of the preliminary, this time by Guarani, from Paraguay, in a game marked by early expulsion of midfielder Pedrinho.
In this year’s edition, the Parque São Jorge club found difficulties in its debut. Favorite against Venezuela Universidad Central, Corinthians was only in a 1-1 draw in Caracas and got a 3-2 sweaty victory in Sao Paulo.
The difficulty with the modest Venezuelan team lit the warning sign for the team sequence in the competition and was confirmed before Barcelona of Ecuador.
It will now remain to Corinthians to play in the South American Cup in the rest of the season.
Corinthians participation in Libertadores since 2011
- 2011-Eliminated in the second phase of pre-liberators by Tolima
- 2012 – Champion, beating Boca Juniors in the decision
- 2013 – Eliminated in the round of 16 by Boca Juniors
- 2015 – Eliminated in the round of 16 by Guarani
- 2016 – Eliminated in the round of 16 by the National
- 2018-Eliminated in the round of 16 by Colo-Colo
- 2020-Eliminated in the second phase of pre-liberators by Guarani
- 2022 – Eliminated in the quarterfinals by Flamengo
- 2023 – Eliminated in the group stage
- 2025-Deliminated in the second phase of pre-liberators by Barcelona
