Boca held at home, Adriano gives Sao Paulo narrow win

Thu, May 15 09:12 AM

By Brian Homewood

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Defending champions Boca Juniors were held 2-2 at home by Atlas in their Libertadores Cup quarter-final first leg on Wednesday while Adriano gave Sao Paulo a 1-0 win over Fluminense.

Jorge Torres's late header gave Mexico's Atlas a surprise draw in Buenos Aires and Adriano, on loan from Inter Milan, notched his fifth goal of the competition in the all-Brazilian tie in Sao Paulo.

"It was unjust," Boca playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme told reporters. "They'll be happy because they scored two goals which they didn't deserve. They didn't offer anything during the whole game."

Boca, staging the game at Velez Sarsfield because of a ban on their own Bombonera stadium following crowd trouble in the previous round, quickly fell behind against a team they also played in the group stage.

Atlas scored after only five minutes when Diego Colotto headed back across goal from a corner and Omar Flores headed the ball in.

Boca struggled to get going but equalised in the 37th minute when Atlas defender Hugo Ayala, under pressure from Martin Palermo, turned Rodrigo Palacio's pass into his own net.

The Argentines went ahead in the 76th minute when Jesus Datolo's cross was headed across the goal by Palermo and Paraguay defender Julio Cesar Caceres hooked it into the net.

Boca pressed for a third but conceded an equaliser when Torres outjumped their defence to score with another header in the 88th minute.

Adriano, plagued by injury problems at Inter Milan last year, continued his revival at Sao Paulo with the only goal in a foul-ridden game against Fluminense.

The burly forward calmly slotted home a rebound after Fluminense goalkeeper Fernando Henrique could only parry Dagoberto's angled shot in the 20th minute.

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