Depay's late penalty miss ends Corinthians' Copa Libertadores run as Estudiantes reaches semifinals

Estudiantes de La Plata is back in the Copa Libertadores semifinals for the first time since 2009, after eliminating Corinthians in a quarterfinal that turned on a single moment of brilliance and, moments later, a moment of Brazilian heartbreak. Alexis Castro's acrobatic finish in the closing minutes at the Neo Química Arena gave the Argentine club a 1-0 win in São Paulo and a 2-1 aggregate triumph over the two legs, but the match's defining image came after the final whistle should have already sounded: Memphis Depay, handed a stoppage-time penalty that could have saved Corinthians' season, blazed his attempt over the crossbar.

The result knocks one of Brazil's most decorated clubs out of the competition at the quarterfinal stage and sends Estudiantes, coached by Alexander Medina, into a semifinal draw against the winner of Flamengo and Independiente del Valle, the two clubs that met in their own decisive second leg a night later at the Maracanã.

A late strike, then a costlier miss

Wednesday's second leg was scoreless and tense until the 87th minute, when Tomás Palacios drove a low cross in from the left byline and Castro met it with a scissor-kick finish that goalkeeper Hugo Souza got nowhere near. It was enough on its own to settle a tie that had finished 1-1 in the first leg in Argentina, putting Estudiantes ahead 2-1 on aggregate with the clock running down.

Corinthians got a lifeline in the 102nd minute when a review confirmed by VAR flagged a handball by Estudiantes defender Leandro González Pírez inside the area. Depay, the marquee forward of a Corinthians side that had just handed him a new contract, stepped up knowing a conversion would force extra time. His shot sailed high over the bar, and the Neo Química Arena went silent as Estudiantes' players and bench spilled onto the pitch in celebration.

"It's crazy, crazy — all eyes on one kick. How hard he hit it, and how badly. We didn't deserve it after the 180 minutes we played. We're leaving very happy to reach a semifinal," Estudiantes goalkeeper Fernando Muslera said after the match.

The numbers

• Aggregate score: Estudiantes 2, Corinthians 1 (1-1 in La Plata, 1-0 in São Paulo)
• Castro's winner arrived in the 87th minute of the second leg; Depay's missed penalty came in the 102nd
• It is Estudiantes' first Copa Libertadores semifinal appearance since 2009, a gap of 17 years
• Corinthians' elimination is worth roughly R$11.8 million (about $2.1 million) in forfeited CONMEBOL prize money, according to Brazilian reporting

Seventeen years in the making

The last time Estudiantes played a Libertadores semifinal, in 2009, the club went on to win its fourth continental title under coach Alejandro Sabella, beating Cruzeiro in the final. That team's run is central to Estudiantes' identity, and Medina — who, as a player for Uruguay's Nacional, actually lined up against Estudiantes in that same 2009 semifinal — leaned on the club's history in his postgame remarks, invoking a phrase associated with Sabella.

"We feel joy and happiness because Estudiantes hadn't reached a Copa Libertadores semifinal since 2009," Medina said. "We crossed the Rubicon, like the great Alejandro Sabella used to say" — a scene captured in Infobae's reporting from São Paulo.

Estudiantes had needed to grind through a runner-up finish in the group stage and a round-of-16 win over Chile's Universidad Católica before dispatching Corinthians, and the club's official channels framed Wednesday's result as validation of a squad built around veterans such as Muslera, Guido Carrillo and Joaquín Correa alongside younger contributors like the 23-year-old Castro, whose goal ranks among the biggest of his career. Estudiantes is a four-time Libertadores champion — 1968, 1969, 1970 and 2009 — and a run to this year's final would be its first continental crown in 17 years.

Fallout in São Paulo

For Corinthians, the exit lands at a brutal moment. Depay had only just ended a monthslong contract standoff with the club, agreeing in August to a pay cut so he could sign an extension through 2028, and had been treated as a hero for staying. By Wednesday night that goodwill had evaporated: graffiti reading "Fora Memphis" ("Out, Memphis") appeared near the club's training complex within hours of the final whistle, a scene beIN Sports described as the costliest miss of Depay's career, while rival Palmeiras fans mocked the Dutch forward on social media. The miss was especially jarring given how little the 32-year-old had scored domestically this year — Depay had managed just one league goal in Brazil's Série A this season, making Wednesday's spot kick nearly his best chance to make a decisive difference for Corinthians all year.

Coach Fernando Diniz, who has now gone six matches without a win across the Libertadores and Brazil's Campeonato Brasileiro, faces mounting pressure with Corinthians sitting 14th in the domestic table, only four points above the relegation zone. The Libertadores exit removes what many at the club had viewed as its clearest remaining path to silverware this year and shifts the entire focus of the season onto an increasingly precarious league campaign.

What happens next

Estudiantes now waits to learn its semifinal opponent from the Flamengo-Independiente del Valle tie, with Flamengo — the reigning Libertadores champion after beating Palmeiras in last November's final — having taken a 2-0 lead into the second leg at the Maracanã. Facing either the defending champion or the Ecuadorian side that pushed them to the brink, Estudiantes would enter as the clear underdog in a semifinal CONMEBOL has scheduled for first legs on October 13 and 14, with the final set for late November.

For Corinthians, attention turns immediately to the Brasileirão, where a team assembled in part to compete continentally must now fight to stabilize a season that suddenly has far less room for error — and answer to a fan base that will be watching Depay's next touches closely.