A goal by Carmelo Valencia in the 92nd minute gave Junior a more than fair victory against Millonarios. who played the worst game in the Alberto Gamero era. The 2-1 was short for a team that could have lost by a landslide and that ended up giving everything away in the substitution, when the tie had been found in the 90th minute.
Millonarios repeated the nightmare of the first 15 minutes in Medellin, but multiplied by three and this time without the help of VAR. Junior proposed a game to control what Gamero’s team does best, dominate the ball.
Junior’s idea, on paper, was defensive: three recovery midfielders, two open midfielders and a single striker. But with those players, Junior began to play long, to take advantage of the spaces and open cracks to his rival.
(Also read: Piqué: this was the hard “party of discord” while he was with Shakira)But if Millos looked bad at Atanasio at the beginning, Barranquiilla’s reaches very worrying levels. Without a mark in the middle, with two insecure central defenders, with full-backs that neither come out nor mark, with Silva, Ruiz and Gómez disconnected and with a Herazo that was only seen in the hymns.
The first individual mistake that cost Millos a goal
And to complete, an individual error by Murillo, who neither rejected nor controlled the ball, allowed Junior to go ahead, at 10 minutes: the ball went long to the defender, just for Fabián Sambueza to take it and return it to the visiting area, where ‘Cariaco’ González scored the 1-0. In the midst of a heavy atmosphere, the Venezuelan decided to celebrate in the worst way, insulting the fans.
The nightmare lasted for the rest of the first stage and if no more goals were scored it was because of Junior’s lack of aim: for example, another mistake by the defense left Borja alone against Montero. The striker stumbled and Perlaza, in his attempt to reject, almost hits it with the leg of Junior’s 9. And there was also a play to collect from the side in which Montero did not come out and Didier Moreno headed it in. But he was ahead.
Fortunately for Millonarios, Junior was unable to take advantage of either the dominance he had achieved or the wear and tear he subjected his rival to. This Saturday Borja played in Selection mode in the tie, without aim and without generating danger. And when they finally found the way, Montero regained his confidence.
Gamero tried to recompose on several occasions with changes that did not come out. Jáder Valencia came on for Herazo and the ball did not reach him either. Ríchard Celis came on for Gómez only to leave 18 minutes later, without contributing anything and rather saving himself from expulsion, by elbowing Fuentes when he was already booked. And then, he tried to rearm the right side of the defense by removing Perlaza and Llinás to bring in Édgar Guerra and José Cuenú.
From miracle to painful and deserved defeat
The best thing that could happen to Millonarios was for Wílmar Roldán to whistle the end of the game. Ómar Albornoz forgave the 89: under the arch, he threw it up. But in the only one Gamero’s team had in the entire game, Óscar Cortés, who had come on for Celis, stole a ball from Jorge Arias and left Jáder Valencia ready to score the 1-1 in the 90th minute.
But Millos stayed celebrating. And Junior this time found a prize, in another mistake by Murillo, who first missed the mark and then slipped and rejected the cross for Carmelo Valencia to score 2-1, in the second minute of substitution.
(In other news: Piqué: Shakira’s crude explanation of the lyrics of ‘I congratulate you’)
Millionaires got it very cheap. He is one point behind the new leader, Atlético Nacional, and will have two home games in a row, against Junior and the Greens, to straighten out the path. But the Barranquilla game is more than worrying.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Sub-Editor
@josasc
#Millionaires #cheap #touched #miracle #gave
