The illusion was there, but the background did not help at all: Junior was unable to win at home throughout the Copa Libertadores. They did not win a single match in the group stage and this Tuesday they repeated the story. They despaired, were never superior to Colo Colo and ended up losing fairly.
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Tuesday’s 1-2 in Barranquilla marked the end of Junior’s 2024 edition of the tournament and, in the process, Colombian football was once again left out of the top eight on the continent. And the worst thing is that there were repeated errors throughout the semester, both in the Cup and in the local tournament.
Arturo Reyes’ team was a lackluster team, with errors in marking, and although Carlos Bacca responded with a goal, as always, they missed other clear chances, and could not recover from two lethal blows, one in the first half and another in the second.
Junior gave too many liberties in the middle of the field and allowed Lucas Cepeda, in the 43rd minute, began to gain meters towards the south goal of the Metropolitano, until he found time and space to hit from afar and score 0-1, in a goal in which goalkeeper Santiago Mele could have done more.
Before the end of the first half, Carlos Bacca, the different player of Junior, took advantage of a magnificent pass from Didier Moreno to put in a soft cross shot that beat goalkeeper Brayan Cortés and returned the series to the one-goal difference with which they had arrived in Santiago eight days ago.
And just as Junior has virtues that are repeated, the errors are also frequent and very, very similar to each other. Fortaleza had already given them a scare on Saturday and Colo Colo, who had studied their rival well, hit them with the same formula.
In the 74th minute, Junior again conceded a goal on a side-footed ball, this time from a corner kick. Guillermo Paiva received a free pass to head the ball. The ball hit the crossbar and Maximiliano Falcón took the rebound, unmarked, to score the 1-2 that gave Colo Colo the qualification.
The Chileans did not need Arturo Vidal to win. However, they came on in the final minutes, in which there were more blows than football. Rafael Pérez was sent off for hitting an opponent in the 82nd minute and the home team, with 10 men, could do no more.
The game ended first with anger and then with a celebration by the Chileans, who went over the top and left Junior in a very bad position, who had hoped to reach at least the quarter-finals in their centenary and ended up eliminated and leaving a poor image.
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