Estudiantes dominates but can't find a way through: scoreless draw with Flamengo in Libertadores semifinal first leg

Twenty-one shots and not a single goal. That was the story of the first leg of the Copa Libertadores semifinals between Estudiantes de La Plata and Flamengo, which ended 0-0 at Jorge Luis Hirschi stadium even though Alexander Medina's side spent the entire night firing at the Brazilian goal without ever breaking it down.

The most striking number of the night is exactly that: Estudiantes put up 21 shots to Flamengo's mere 5, and the scoreboard still didn't budge. From the first minute the home side came out determined to find a way through: in the 2nd minute they strung together three attempts in quick succession, with Baltasar Rodriguez and Tiago Palacios testing from outside the box, neither finding the target. The pressure continued with headers from Santiago Nunez, who in the 18th and 38th minutes sent two efforts that were stopped low, close to the post, off crosses from Joaquin Tobio Burgos. Guido Carrillo also had his chances right before halftime, with a point-blank header that went just wide in the 27th minute and another shot saved in first-half stoppage time.

Flamengo, for its part, barely showed up with a header from Bruno Henrique in the 7th minute that drifted wide to the right and a shot from Saul near the end of the first half that also missed the target. Leonardo Jardim's side seemed content to control possession, finishing with 55.2 percent of the ball and 458 passes to the home side's 367, without creating much real danger.

The second half: more of the same

The second half followed the same script. Estudiantes kept pushing forward through substitutions, bringing on Joaquin Correa, Edwuin Cetre and Miguel Monsalve in search of something to break the deadlock. Cetre had two clear chances, a header that went wide in the 77th minute and a shot that was saved in the 82nd, while Ramiro Funes Mori also tried a header without success in the 72nd minute. Flamengo, after bringing on Gonzalo Plata and Pedro, tried to create danger down the flanks, but its only real threat in that stretch was a shot from Emerson Royal that went wide in the 75th minute.

The match also had its share of tension with yellow cards: Alexis Castro and Ezequiel Piovi for Estudiantes, and Lucas Paqueta, Jorge Carrascal and Guillermo Varela for Flamengo, were all booked over the course of the 90 minutes, a reflection of a physical matchup with an even number of fouls on each side (14 apiece).

What the numbers say

The expected goals numbers, calculated after the fact based on shot location, also tell the story of a clear but fruitless dominance: Estudiantes generated an xG of 1.06 compared to just 0.21 for Flamengo. The gap between volume of play and finishing efficiency summed up the night in La Plata.

The result also stands in contrast to the pre-match projections, which gave Flamengo a 46 percent chance of winning, against 23 percent for Estudiantes and 31 percent for a draw, with a combined expected goals total of 2.19. None of that played out: there were no goals, and the team that arrived as the favorite was the one that generated the least.

Both teams reached this stage after similarly tough roads: Estudiantes eliminated Universidad Catolica and Corinthians along the way, while Flamengo got past Cruzeiro and Independiente del Valle. Now, with this scoreless draw as the baseline, the semifinal tie is completely open heading into the second leg, where Flamengo will have to decide whether to keep relying on ball control or whether it needs to be sharper in front of goal to avoid another night with so few shots on target.