At the Nilton Santos Stadium, Botafogo lost to Barcelona de Guayaquil by 1-0 (first leg 1-1) and bid farewell to the Conmebol Libertadores in the third qualifying phase - the last before the group stage.
Highlights coming soon
Before 10 minutes into the game, the Ecuadorians opened the scoring with Milton Céliz, striking beautifully from the edge of the area.
Very disorganized, the Glorioso barely threatened goalkeeper José Contreras in the first half.
After the break, Botafogo almost equalized with a beautiful free-kick from Alex Telles, but Contreras flew to send it for a corner.
Lacking creativity, the Carioca team hovered around the Barcelona de Guayaquil area but failed to create real chances of danger.
The Ecuadorians, on the other hand, defended well and occasionally attacked to trouble goalkeeper Léo Linck.
In a desperate attempt, Botafogo pressed in the final minutes and almost equalized with a header from Arthur Cabral, free in the area, but Contreras saved it.
🚦 What's next
With the elimination in the third phase of the Libertadores, Botafogo will have to play in the Sudamericana, along with Atlético-MG, Grêmio, RB Bragantino, Santos, São Paulo, and Vasco.
The group stage draws for the Libertadores and the Sudamericana will take place on March 19, at the Conmebol headquarters in Luque, Paraguay.
The Glorioso returns to the field next Saturday (14), when they host Flamengo at Nilton Santos for the sixth round of the Brasileirão.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.