Santos rallies past Macará 2-1 in Copa Sudamericana round of 16 despite two VAR disallowed goals

Santos came from behind to beat Macará 2-1 at Estádio Vila Belmiro in a round of 16 clash in the Copa Sudamericana defined by the Ecuadorian side's surprising start and by two Santos goals that were disallowed by VAR in the second half.

A start nobody saw coming

Macará struck first, and early. Just four minutes had gone by when Franco Posse connected with a left footed shot from the center of the box, off a cross from Mateo Viera, to make it 0-1 and silence the home crowd. The blow forced Santos to work the game patiently, something its territorial dominance allowed for: the Brazilian side piled up possession and chances but lacked the finishing touch needed to level the score right away.

The equalizer came near the end of the first half. In the 43rd minute, Gabriel Barbosa popped up in the middle of the box to finish with his left foot after a through ball from Neymar, making it 1-1 at the break.

The VAR chapter and the winning goal

The start of the second half was dominated by technology. On two occasions, in the 48th and 55th minutes, Gabriel Barbosa thought he had scored the go-ahead goal, but both times VAR ruled the plays offside, leaving the score tied and adding uncertainty about how the match would be settled.

The decisive moment arrived in the 75th minute: off a corner kick, Neymar delivered a cross into the box that Willian Arão pushed home from point blank range with his right foot to seal the final 2-1. Macará had no response left, and was left with the feeling of having been a protagonist for a significant stretch of the match without being able to hold onto it.

The numbers behind the control

The stats clearly reflect the gap in control that Santos held, beyond the tight final score.

The physical toll also stands out: Macará committed 21 fouls to just 8 for Santos, a sign of a team that had to grind and foul to contain the waves of home attacks. As for the xG generated in the match, an in-house estimate based on shot location, Santos racked up 1.726 compared to 0.681 for Macará, a gap that confirms the home side's superiority in volume and quality of chances, even if the final score ended up tighter than that.

What the preview said versus what happened on the field

Before kickoff, the published projection gave Santos a 38% chance of winning, a 31% chance of a draw and a 31% chance of a Macará victory, with an expected total of 2.38 goals. The final result, a 2-1 win for the home side, fell within the projected range in terms of goal count, though the path to that scoreline had more twists than the projection suggested, with Macará going ahead early and Santos needing to come back twice against VAR reviews.

What the match leaves behind

Santos walks away with a hard-fought win built on possession dominance and offensive persistence, with Neymar as a key piece in setting up both goals scored. For Macará, the takeaway is that of a team that struck first and competed with discipline, but could not hold onto its lead under the sustained pressure from its opponent at Vila Belmiro.