Millionaires went to work again in Bogotá, as happened in their two most recent home games against the relegated Unión Magdalena and the eliminated Boyacá Chicó. This time, the one What made them sweat oil was Cúcuta Deportivo, the only survivor of B in the Cup, but a goal from Leonardo Castro was enough to take an advantage that he will have to maintain on Sunday, in the semifinal of the tournament.
Cúcuta Deportivo had already shown that it could hurt the A teams. Let Once Caldas, Junior and Medellín say it. It is surprising then that, in the semester table in B, counting all the phases, it is second, 12 points below Fortaleza.
The red and black team put together a game to hold on and counterpunch. They gave the ball to Millonarios, but they did not let him play comfortably, as they had done recently in Bogotá Unión Magdalena and Boyacá Chicó.
Although the ball was blue for a long time, in the first stage there were only two options for the local team, a shot by Mackalister Silva that was saved by goalkeeper Ezequiel Mastrolía and another by Bertel, ending the first half. Cúcuta, with less time on the ball, had the clearest shot, which Jaime Peralta missed incredibly. It was so obvious that the coach took him out for the second half.
The suffering of Millonarios before Leo Castro’s goal
Millonarios was tilting the field towards the south arch of El Campín in the second half and Cúcuta was losing that initiative that made it get closer to the goal, especially after the departure of ex-América Joider Micolta due to injury. But despair was spreading in El Campín.
Alberto Gamero shook the board and filled the field with attacking men: Luis Paredes and Fernando Uribe entered and Larry Vásquez and Édgar Guerra left. The options were scarce, but everything was so that some error would appear.
And it came in an obstruction on the edge of the area, for an indirect free kick in favor of Millos: Beckham Castro stepped on the ball and Leonardo Castro broke the goal against Mastrolía, who put an open barrier but stopped in the middle of the goal: through the stick he gave away, the ball went in, in the 74th minute.
Shortly after the goal, judge David Espinosa, with the help of the VAR, sent off the attacker Jefry Zapata, who in addition to entering the game badly, ended up stomping on Paredes from behind that could have had fatal consequences for the Millonarios player.
🟥 IT’S RED: Total success of the VAR Mauricio Pérez calling David Espinosa for this play by Jeffry Zapata. The Cúcuta player steps on Paredes in the Achilles tendon area. His foot slides very badly against the attacker. Well expelled #CopaBetPlay pic.twitter.com/2tcCaaHIQv
— The VAR Central (Andrés) (@ElVarCentral) November 3, 2023
The Colombian champion could not take advantage of the extra man and arrives with an advantage, minimal, but advantage, to the second leg on Sunday at General Santander. Cúcuta does not seem to be from B: it is a fully-fledged team that complicated things and could resolve its passage to the final at home.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
@josasc
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