Boca Juniors and Palmeiras tied this Thursday without goals in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores semifinals played at the La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires and postponed the suspense of the definition to next Thursday at the Allianz Parque in São Paulo.
Although Xeneize generated the greatest number of goal opportunities, the figures of the match were the goalkeeper Weverton and his two centre-backs, the Paraguayan Gustavo Gómez and Murilo Cequeira.
Boca today extended its streak of draws in the tournament, as it repeated this same result in the round of 16 with Nacional from Uruguay and in the quarterfinals with Racing Club. They beat both rivals in separate penalty shootouts.
Palmeiras already beat Atlético Mineiro by a minimum in the round of 16 and Deportivo Pereira by four goals in the quarterfinals.
The first goal option today was generated by the visitor in the 4th minute with a shot by Artur that hit the outside of the net. In the 16th minute Edinson Cavani caused concern with a header. And the next minute Medina almost pushed her away due to a quick exit from the goalkeeper.
At 27, Rony brought danger to Sergio Romero's goal and two minutes later, Barco's pass into the void for Miguel Ángel Merentiel tested Weverton's reflexes.
Boca continued to press and in the 40th minute 'Equi' Fernández was left alone in the area after a mistake by Marcos Rocha but his shot went just wide, and a minute later Merentiel again demanded Weverton, who stopped the ball without rebounding .
Before the break, a collective play by the local team ended with a weak shot by Valentín Barco and in injury time Cavani headed only after a cross from Luis Advíncula in a ball that went near the left post.
At the beginning of the complement, Zé Rafael managed to climb up the left and connect a cross on a ball that went very wide and two minutes later Marcos Rocha managed to filter the perfect pass for the run of Raphael Veiga, who stepped into the area alone for the left sector, but his shot went far.
In the 58th minute Luis Advíncula took a cross cross that made Weverton work again and on the rebound Fabra fought the ball to Marcos Rocha and Merentiel pushed it into the back of the net, but the Colombian referee Wilmar Roldán signaled a foul by the side and invalidated the goal.
Ten minutes later, one of the clearest goals came for the locals with a cross shot by Valentín Barco that allowed a rebound from Weverton so that Cavani could not push it to the goal due to the demands of the defenses to prevent the arrival of the Uruguayan scorer.
In the rest of the match the benches were rotated and Boca had its last opportunity in the 79th minute with a header from the admitted Darío Benedetto that hit Gustavo Gómez's goal.
0. Mouth Juniors: Sergio Rosemary; Luis Advincula, Nicholas Figal, Red Mark (m.70, Nicholas Valentini) and Frank Fabra; Cristian Medina, Guillermo Fernandez (m.76, Jorman Campuzano), Ezequiel Fernandez (m.86, Exequiel Zeballos) and Valentin Barco (m.70, Lucas Janson); Edinson Cavani and Michael Angel Merentiel (m.76, Dario Benedetto).
Coach: Jorge Almirón.
0. Palmeiras: Weverton; Marcos Rocha, Gustavo Gómez, Murilo Cequeira, Joaquín Piquerez; Gabriel Menino (m.77, Richard Ríos), Zé Rafael (m.86, Fabinho), Mayke (m.93, Breno Lopes), Raphael Veiga, Artur (m.77, Luis Guilherme) and Rony (m.93, Endrick).
Coach: Abel Ferreira.
Referee: Colombian Wilmar Roldán cautioned Luis Advíncula, Darío Benedetto, Zé Rafael and Abel Ferreira.
Incidents: first leg of the Copa Libertadores semifinals played at the Alberto J. Armando La Bombonera Stadium, in Buenos Aires.
