10-man Botafogo wins its first Copa Libertadores title

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Botafogo overcame playing with 10 men to win its first Copa Libertadores title after beating fellow Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro 3-1 in the final at Monumental de Nunez Stadium on Saturday.

After just 30 seconds, midfielder Gregore, one of Botafogo's best players, hit the head of Fausto Vera with his foot and was given a straight red card.

“It was so hard to have one less so early in a final. It was an unfortunate move,” Botafogo defender Alexander Barboza said. “But Gregore deserves this title as much as we do. We made history and that won’t ever be erased.”

Winger Luiz Henrique scored first in the 35th minute from close range, and was fouled for the penalty shot converted by Alex Telles in the 44th.

Eduardo Vargas headed Mineiro's only goal in the 46th while Junior Santos, the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores with 10 goals, capped Botafogo's historic night with the third in injury time.

Brazil was assured of a sixth consecutive Copa Libertadores title and its 24th in history, just one less than Argentina.

It was also the third straight title for Rio de Janeiro clubs, after Fluminense in 2023 and Flamengo in 2022.

Botafogo, the last of the four big Rio clubs to win the Copa Libertadores, earned prize money of $23 million and a spot in the Club World Cup in the United States next year.

Despite sensationally losing Gregore, Botafogo reset and Luiz Henrique scored the opener. Henrique surged on the right flank and crossed to Marlon Freitas, who took a shot that was deflected. Henrique was in the right place to strike through the legs of goalkeeper Ederson.

Henrique and Ederson met again near the end of the first half when the striker surprised the keeper on the edge of the box. A penalty was given after a video review and left back Telles calmly slotted the ball home.

Mineiro came back with a more aggressive formation in the second half and was rewarded when veteran Hulk took a corner kick and Vargas, who replaced midfielder Gustavo Scarpa during the break, didn’t even need to jump to score with his head.

Mineiro had more chances to equalize through Deyverson in the 53rd, Hulk in the 56th, and Vargas in the 86th and 88th, all from close range.

But it was Botafogo’s Júnior Santos, who was sidelined by injury during the Copa, who scored the last goal.

“We just failed at getting some advantage at having one more player than them,” tearful Mineiro defender Rodrigo Battaglia said. “It was a very hard day for all of us.”

Botafogo coach Arthur Jorge joined Portuguese compatriots Jorge Jesus (Flamengo, 2019) and Abel Ferreira (Palmeiras, 2020 and 2021) as European coaches with a Copa Libertadores title.

Mineiro's Gabriel Milito missed the chance to be the first Argentine to win the tournament with a Brazilian club.

Botafogo also gave American owner John Textor his biggest trophy yet. Textor has been subject to criticism after unproven allegations about match-fixing when Botafogo squandered a 13-point lead last year and missed out on the league title.

“I grew up in Florida, which has a great connection with South American nations. For me, this is bigger than everything in Europe,” Textor said after the game.

He added the players he signed for Botafogo were free to choose their own path.

“What we do is to bring players, ask them to win trophies and then we honor their path. No multi-club (network) does that, an owner that leaves the decision to the player,” Textor said.

Next week, his team could win its first Brazilian title since 1995.

“I saw this was a hungry group of players since I joined,” said Telles, who joined Botafogo in mid-year. “No one was speaking about what happened last year, it hurt us all. We knew we had a burden to carry, to give something back to our fans. Now we did it.”

Botafogo was relegated from the league in 2020 but has risen to prominence again with Textor’s investment. He was part of a wave of foreign owners who came into Brazilian soccer after a 2021 law change paved the way for private investors.

Mineiro also has wealthy owner in Brazilian billionaire Rubens Menin, a construction mogul.

Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Botafogo soccer fans celebrate winning the Copa Libertadores title match in Argentina, against Brazil's Atletico Mineiro, during a watch party at the Nilton Santos Stadium, in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Thiago Almada of Brazil's Botafogo kisses the trophy as he celebrates with teammates after winning the Copa Libertadores final soccer match against Brazil's Atletico Mineiro at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ignacio Amiconi)

Igor Jesus of Brazil's Botafogo holds the trophy as he celebrates with teammates after winning the Copa Libertadores final soccer match against Brazil's Atletico Mineiro at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024.(AP Photo/Ignacio Amiconi)

Brazil's Atletico Mineiro soccer fan reacts after their team lost the the Copa Libertadores title match to Brazil's Botafogo, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. Brazil's Botafogo won 3-1. (AP Photo/Thomas Santos)

Botafogo soccer fans celebrate their team's third goal scored by Junior Santos against Atletico Mineiro in the Copa Libertadores title match in Argentina, broadcast on a giant screen at a watch party at the Nilton Santos Stadium, in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Luiz Henrique of Brazil's Botafogo, right. is fouled by goalkeeper Everson of Brazil's Atletico Mineiro inside the penalty area during a Copa Libertadores final soccer match at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Players of Brazil's Botafogo hold the trophy as they celebrate after winning the Copa Libertadores final soccer match against Brazil's Atletico Mineiro at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)

Botafogo soccer fans celebrate a goal scored by Luis Henrique against Atletico Mineiro in the Copa Libertadores title match, broadcast on a giant screen at a watch party at the Nilton Santos Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

A Brazil's Atletico Mineiro soccer fan reacts as she watches a live broadcast of her team go up against Brazil's Botafogo in the Copa Libertadores title match, at a bar in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Santos)

Eduardo Vargas of Brazil's Atletico Mineiro, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's first goal against Brazil's Botafogo during a Copa Libertadores final soccer match at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024.(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Alex Telles of Brazil's Botafogo celebrates after scoring his side's second goal against Brazil's Atletico Mineiro from the penalty spot during a Copa Libertadores final soccer match at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)

Luiz Henrique of Brazil's Botafogo, right. is fouled by goalkeeper Everson of Brazil's Atletico Mineiro inside the penalty area during a Copa Libertadores final soccer match at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Luiz Henrique of Brazil's Botafogo celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal against Brazil's Atletico Mineiro during a Copa Libertadores final soccer match at Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is rising toward records Tuesday after an easing of oil prices let Wall Street turn its focus back to the big profits that companies keep producing.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and was on track to top its all-time high set at the end of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 248 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was heading toward its own record after climbing 0.7%.

Stocks got a boost after oil prices gave back some of their big jumps from Monday. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.3% to $110.70 after briefly topping $115 on Monday, though it’s still well above its roughly $70 price from before the war with Iran.

A ceasefire in the war appears to be holding, even after the United Arab Emirates said Monday that Iran fired missiles and drones at it. The U.S. military is trying to force open a path in the Strait of Hormuz, which would allow oil tankers to resume shipments from the Persian Gulf and hopefully bring down the price of crude.

Iran’s powerful parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, accused the United States of undermining regional security with the effort to end Iran’s stranglehold on the strait and warned that Tehran will respond.

Even with the war ongoing, the U.S. stock market has remained remarkably resilient on its record-setting run. That’s in large part due to the strong profits that U.S. companies have reported for the start of 2026 despite the rise in oil prices since the end of February.

“This has been a ‘why ask why’ market,'” according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “You just have to go with it.”

Even though many risks are still weighing on the market, “investors are looking at earnings” and how much companies are spending on AI data centers and other investments, he said.

DuPont’s stock rallied 8.7% Tuesday after the chemical giant led another cavalcade of companies reporting better-than-expected profits for the latest quarter.

DuPont said its water technologies business felt some impact because of the war with Iran due to logistics disruptions in the Middle East. But it nevertheless raised its forecasts for financial results over the full year due in part to its strong start to 2026.

Other winners included American Electric Power Co., which rose 1.8%, and Cummins, which added 1.7%, after they likewise made more money during the first three months of the year than analysts expected.

Pinterest soared 14% after the online bulletin board topped Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets as its number of active monthly users jumped 11% to 631 million.

AB InBev likewise topped analysts’ profit forecasts, and it credited growth for its Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra brands outside of their home markets. “Cheers to beer,” CEO Michel Doukeris said, as the company’s stock that trades in the United States jumped 9.2%.

They helped offset a drop for Palantir Technologies, which fell 4.3% even though it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock has struggled this year with worries about increased competition, like many software companies have. Its stock is also coming off a huge run where it more than doubled in each of the last three years.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe. The CAC 40 rose 0.6% in Paris, but the FTSE 100 fell 1.7% in London. Many Asian markets were closed for holidays, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2% after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 4.35%, saying conflict in the Middle East had sharply increased fuel and commodity prices that were already adding to inflation.

In the U.S. bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave back some of Monday’s gains and reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed.

One report said growth for U.S. services businesses unexpectedly decelerated last month, with some companies saying the war is slowing spending. A separate report said U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of March than economists expected, an encouraging signal for the job market.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.42% from 4.45% late Monday.

That’s still well above its 3.97% level from just before the war began. That rise has made mortgages and other kinds of loans for U.S. households and businesses more expensive.

AP Writers Chan Ho-him, Matt Ott and Rod McGuirk contributed.

Specialist Patrick King works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Options trader Anthony Spina, foreground, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A board above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

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