Millonarios beat Pereira, injuries and adversity: he is still alive in the League

Millionaires do not stop suffering from losses due to injury or illness. He had already lost Daniel Cataño since last week. On Wednesday, Leonardo Castro, Stiven Vega and Sander Navarro arrived at the medical department.

And hours before the game, two other players from the squad fell: Daniel Ruiz, due to a virus (something that had already taken Andrés Llinás out of the game against Junior), and Émerson Rodríguez, due to a muscle problem.

Alberto Gamero had to make his debut in the League for Brayan Campaz, who had already had his first minutes in the Libertadores on Wednesday against Bolívar, and trust Beckham Castro again, who has not been able to recover the level with which he excited in his first presentations.

However, with the formula of playing long, Millos found the winning goal relatively early, at 16 minutes. Two theoretically defensive players were the protagonists: a long and precise ball from Juan Pablo Vargas and a soft touch from Juan Carlos Pereira to put the ball well against the post on the right hand of goalkeeper Salvador Ichazo.

Pereira also suffered from injuries, although not with the almost industrial number of Millionaires. Leonel Álvarez had already lost his axis in the middle, Juan David Ríos, and this week Faber Gil was torn and will miss the rest of the semester.

The visitors felt those losses. Pereira was a flat team, which generated almost no danger and in which the solution proposed by Leonel, by placing Yeison Suárez as a winger, did not work.

Neither coach was happy with what they saw in the first half, judging by the changes they made at halftime. Gamero took out the two wingers, Campaz and Castro, and brought in Danovis Banguero and Luis Paredes, who had not played since he was injured in the Super League. And Pereira had to make a forced change, due to another injury, this time, that of his central midfielder Ewil Murillo.

The game was a little more lively in the second half. Pereira had the equalizer at the feet of his scorer, Carlos Darwin Quintero, but incredibly, in front of the goal, he threw the ball out. And Millos had a very clear one to make it 2-0, in a pass from Paredes to Mackalister Silva, who lost one-on-one with Ichazo, who saved him well.

The Millonarios doctors have a new patient since the 74th minute, when Santiago Giordana made a spike and felt pain in the back of his thigh. The Argentine left the field on a stretcher and Gamero had to turn to Juan Esteban Carvajal, who had been out of the squad for four league games. The physical preparation in Millonarios is something to review, and seriously.

Pereira ended up playing much further forward in search of the tie and Millonarios, in the midst of so much adversity, had to bet on defending themselves in the last minutes: they ended up with a defense of five, four in front of them (with the refreshment of Jhon Largacha for Paredes) and Carvajal alone waiting for a ball to come to him.

The endurance was enough for Millonarios to achieve his first victory in the home runs. Now comes Gamero’s next puzzle. He already has one more loss for the game against Bucaramanga: Daniel Giraldo reached five yellow cards. For the rest, let’s pray that no one else gets injured. On Tuesday they will host Palestino in the Libertadores.

Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
@josasc