LDU became the first Ecuadorean club to win the Libertadores Cup, beating Brazil's Fluminense on penalties after losing the second leg of the final 3-1 on Wednesday.

Fluminense midfielder Thiago Neves scored a hat-trick as the see-saw tie finished 5-5 on aggregate but his efforts were in vain as LDU won the shoot-out 3-1 to stun the 86,000 crowd at the Maracana.

Leading 4-2 from the first leg, LDU scored in the fifth minute through striker Luis Bolanos but then fell apart.

Fluminense, whose coach Renato had guaranteed victory before the game, netted three goals in less than an hour and looked certain to complete the job.

But they ran out of steam and failed to score in the remaining half hour of normal time or in extra-time.

Three of their four kicks were saved by LDU goalkeeper Jose Cevallos in the shoot-out, including one from Neves.

"I scored three goals but they weren't worth anything because we didn't win the trophy," Neves told reporters.

LDU were presented with the trophy in a nearly empty stadium around 20 minutes after the end of the game, the crowd having left en masse as soon as the penalties finished.