After getting excited about what was done eight days ago on the same stage, the Roberto Meléndez Metropolitan Stadium, in Barranquilla, millionaires had to settle for the lesser of evils, losing by a goal difference, against the Junior, in the first leg of the Copa Colombia final, an elusive title for the Blues since 2011.
Thus, the new title opportunity for Alberto Gamero and his team will now have to be rowed from behind, after losing a match in which Junior deactivated Millonarios’ attack and took advantage of one of the few options he had to reach El Campín with advantage.
The first half was slow. Millonarios did not feel comfortable in the first few minutes, because Jaguantar in unior controlled him, took the ball away from him and demanded it in defense, although without creating greater danger around the area.
Millonarios decided to assume the role of the visitor, hold out in his field, without having the usual management, and see if, playing long, he could do some damage to Junior.
Millionaires: two options that he did not know how to take advantage of
Only in one stretch of the game, the game was like a boxing match, with arrivals from one side to the other. Junior had it, with a one-on-one between Albornoz and goalkeeper Montero that the former resolved very badly, with a cross shot that did not find a goal.
But Millonarios also had it and twice: once, with Carlos Gómez, who bitten a ball that did not seem to carry much danger, but that required the goalkeeper Viera, and another, in a filtered pass from Daniel Ruiz to Luis Carlos Ruiz : the samarium tried to elude the goalkeeper but he guessed his intention and left him wanting to score.
The referee, Carlos Ortega, wanted to give continuity to the game and ended up being permissive: there was more than one foul in the limit of yellow and red and, in fact, he forgave the expulsion of Ómar Bertel, for a strong stomp on Wálmer Pacheco .
❌ For me this was red for Omar Bertel. Entrance with excessive force above the ankle, unlike Macalister’s, here there is a clear tamper. Carlos Ortega showed yellow and the VAR Guzmán said nothing. The party has already gotten out of Ortega’s hands. pic.twitter.com/PgwE7hXAI8
– The Central VAR (Andrés) (@ElVarCentral) September 29, 2022
The momentum of the second half gave the victory to Junior
While Alberto Gamero, the Millonarios coach, kept payroll and intentions, Julio Comesaña, Junior’s DT, shook the payroll and risked: he took out Edwin Velasco, who had a one-on-one with Gómez and had him under control, and also Iván Rossi and Albornoz. He brought down Fredy Hinestroza to play as a winger and brought in Yeison Gordillo, ‘Cariaco’ González and Edwin Cetré.
Junior went all out on the attack and did not let Millonarios even have any peace of mind, not to attack, but to pass from the middle of the field. There were 18 minutes of lockdown in the south arch of the Metropolitano, in which little by little the locals were looking for a crack in the blue defense.
And they found her: in a corner kick collection of ‘Cariaco’, Cesar Haydar, free, with a poor mark from Óscar Vanegas and some lack of reaction from goalkeeper Álvaro Montero, scored the first goal of the game. And to think that Haydar started the game on the bench and had to come on as an emergency, due to Dany Rosero’s injury, due to injury.
Just before Haydar’s goal, Gamero had sent Daniel Cataño onto the field, instead of Mackalister Silva, with the intention of finding the ball that he had lost. And in Junior, misfortune forced Comesaña to make the last substitution of the night, when Carlos Bacca complained of cramps, on a night in which he was well controlled by Andrés Llinás. Carmelo Valencia entered his place.
➕ “We are happy for the win, we haven’t won anything yet, we need the second leg” Fabián Sambueza, figure of Junior’s match against Millonarios. pic.twitter.com/CWTsks0wQh
— WinSportsTV (@WinSportsTV) September 29, 2022
Already with the advantage, Junior decided to lower the intensity a bit and let Millonarios reconnect with the ball, but only to take it away in the few advances of the visitors.
Gamero tried to recompose the attack with the departure of the two Ruizes and the entry of Diego Herazo and Jáder Valencia, but, unlike the game eight days ago in the League, the changes did not have much effect. Millionaires seemed to settle for the lesser of evils and think about the return game, in 34 days, in El Campín, to see if with the height, the cold and the push of the public he could shake off a game in which they came little, but in which he did not find the formula to reverse the disadvantage.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Sub-Editor
@josasc
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