Colombia’s teams endured a disappointing evening in the Copa Libertadores Thursday, as Atletico Nacional were denied victory by a last minute goal and Junior de Barranquilla lost at home.
While Nacional took some solace from the fact they should have won a frenetic 4-4 draw away to Argentina’s Godoy Cruz, Junior’s 1-0 loss to Bolivian champions Club Bolivar was surely the death knell to an insipid Librtadores campaign yeilding one point from three games.
In Mendoza, western Argentina, an early goal from Leandro Caruso gave Godoy Cruz a lead which only lasted a few minutes, as eventual man of the match Luis Mosquera levelled minutes later.
What followed was a defensive coach’s nightmare, as Caruso went on to score a hat-trick and Dorlan Pabon netted twice. Mosquera could have sealed victory late on but hit the post when one-on-one with the keeper before Godoy Cruz snatched a draw with a last-minute goal from Caruso.
The draw means Nacional stayed top of group eight with seven points. Godoy Cruz moved to joint-second on four points with Universidad de Chile, who drew 1-1 with Uruguay’s Peñarol.
In Barranquilla Junior looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw before Bolivar capitalized on weak defending to snatch a shock away win in the 80th minute.
The result left Junior bottom of group three, having lost two and drawn one. Meanwhile, Bolivar moved to second, behind Union Española who drew 1-1 in their all-Chilean tie against Universidad Catolica.