On Tuesday night, the Tricolor suffered a 4-2 defeat to LDU in Quito and saw their rivals distance themselves at the top of the Group D standings.
To make matters worse, River Plate, who are in the running for second place, thrashed Binacional once again and improved their goal difference. In Quito, Jhojan Julio (twice), Martínez Borja and Billy Arce scored the goals of LDU, while Brenner and Tréllez, who entered the second half, scored for São Paulo.
São Paulo started the first half better than LDU and even made good switches from defence to attack.
However, the team completely collapsed after 20 minutes with the goal scored by Martínez Borja. After that, the Ecuadorian team started to play better and managed to further take advantage of Tricolor"s mistakes. In the 35th minute, Igor Gomes and Hernanes fumbled in the ball exit near the area, Jhojan Julio took advantage and doubled LDU’s lead. It got even worse as Julio would make another one on 45 minutes to pile more misery on São Paulo in the first half.
Tricolor came back better in the second half with the entries of Paulinho Bóia and Brenner. Brenner grabbed one in the 60th minute but LDU responded well with another from Billy Arce 16 minutes later. In the 82nd minute, Tréllez scored another for São Paulo but it only proved to be a consolation goal.
The defeat leaves São Paulo with just four points in four games, in third place in Group D. The LDU goes to nine, getting very close to securing qualification. River Plate goes seven points in second. Binacional has three points – the victory over São Paulo, in Peru.
