Santos claim Recopa crown

Brazilian side Santos defeated Universidad de Chile 2-0 to win their first ever Recopa Sudamericana title in their centenary year. The team from the Sao Paulo suburbs won the Campeonato Paulista title a few days after their 100th anniversary on 14 April. And today they added further shine to the celebrations thanks to goals from Neymar and Bruno Rodrigo in front of their own fans, which gave them victory after a goalless first leg. Argentinian striker Enzo Gutierrez had a clear chance early on for the visitors but he could not connect with a cross from Gustavo Lorenzetti. Shortly after, a long-range effort by Charles Aranguiz went just over the crossbar. But in the 27th minute, Neymar played a one-two with forward Andre and opened the scoring with a precise low shot. In the last move of the first half, Jose Rojas fouled Neymar inside the box and gave him the chance to double the advantage. But once again, as in the first leg in Santiago, keeper Jhonny Herrera saved the penalty from the young Brazil star. After half-time, Universidad coach Jorge Sampaoli sent on Francisco Castro and Guillermo Marino to give his side more attacking power. But Santos boss Muricy Ramalho responded with some tactical changes of his own, and his side doubled their lead when defender Rodrigo headed in a free-kick from Arouca. Neymar said: "I'm very happy. This is very united group and that's a key factor for us when playing this kind of finals. We are making history." Asked about his future, he added: "I want to enjoy playing football until I'm 40. Today, I'm a Santos player and I want to celebrate now." Team-mate Arouca said: "Neymar is a great player, outstanding. But he has around him a very humble team that fight for every ball and well deserve this success." Universidad forward Sebastian Ubilla said: "We played well, but we couldn't score. And in our best moment Neymar made one of his magical plays and everything became even harder for us." This was the seventh title for Brazilian teams in 20 editions of the Recopa Sudamericana, which pits the champions of the Copa Libertadores against the Copa Sudamericana winners. From / FIFA