The last 90 minutes of the very long 2023 Colombian soccer season feature this Wednesday two teams fighting hand in hand for the star of December. One, Junior, got a home advantage. Minimal, but advantage. The other, Medellín, clings to his great moment at home to turn it around and celebrate tonight with his audience.
At 8 at night, the Atanasio Girardot will not have room for a needle, just as there was no room for the Metropolitan or on Sunday, with record attendance for 2023, 45,294 spectators. Those who cannot enter the stadium will have to watch it on Win Sports + or follow it on the radio, online or online.
There is a lot at stake: a place in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores (the loser will go to the Sudamericana), three million dollars for the winner to reach that stage and, above all, sporting glory.
Alfredo Arias, Medellín's coach, expects his team to be full of lights, like at the end of the first half and throughout the second in Barranquilla, and not the dull and hesitant one that conceded two goals in the first 16 minutes.
“I haven't won a game yet. My team has great potential to win there, it is in believing in ourselves, that we continue the game we ended up playing. I can tell the Medellín fan that his team is going to give in no matter what,” Arias said once the game ended at the Roberto Meléndez stadium.
Strength runs out, especially at this time of year. And more so in Medellín, which arrives with a much greater workload of matches than Junior: 69 officials have DIM, counting all competitions, against 50 for Junior, who only had one international match in the year, which they lost with Tolima in Ibagué and left him out of the Copa Sudamericana. Both teams had coaching changes throughout the year. Now they barely have stability.
Junior, full of confidence for the grand final
“We are going to play the game there as it should, it is a final and Junior is used to playing them,” said coach Arturo Reyes, one of those who experienced the ups and downs of a difficult year for his club: in March he was removed due to poor results. and then they called him again to straighten the path. Now he wants it all: “We are in Junior and here it is down to the last: we are going to be champions,” he said.
🏆⭐ “The team is doing well, we faced a good Medellín, that's why they are in the final. To the fan who continues to believe, we have intact faith”, Carlos Bacca, Junior player.#LAFINALxWIN pic.twitter.com/PqR13SSZvJ
— Win Sports TV (@WinSportsTV) December 13, 2023
Junior clings to the lead from the first leg, which could have been wider if he had scored a couple of options after the 2-0 with which he started. But he also thanks his goalkeeper, Santiago Mele, who prevented Medellín from returning home with at least a draw on at least five occasions. He is not a bad visitor, especially since Reyes returned.
Medellín, on the other hand, believes that it can sustain its extraordinary campaign at home, which was not tarnished even when it had to change stadiums out of obligation, such as in the semi-final home runs against Millonarios, a match it played in Itagüí: it was the best game of the semester. That same idea, that of overwhelming the rival from the start, will be what they try to reverse the 3-2 in the first leg.
“We were two goals down, in a final, 4 in the afternoon in Barranquilla and the team reacted and that is what I want to highlight. “The key is completely open and we are going to try to correct the bad things we did and improve the good things,” Arias said.
Both teams are excited. Only one will be champion. It is the last effort of the year, to go on vacation with the biggest prize in your pocket or with the resignation of being left out in the cold. Let it be a nice final, like it was on Sunday in Barranquilla.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
@josasc
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