Millonarios went from winning comfortably and with luxury to asking for time to beat a Junior who went from more to less, who had a reprehensible attitude in the first half, but who fought for a draw, without success. This Wednesday's 3-2 in El Campín allows Alberto Gamero's team to get into the top eight of the 2024-I League.
Millonarios played seriously for the victory and made Junior look very bad in the first stage, to the point that goalkeeper Santiago Mele was a figure. He had already saved his team three times before an action that was controversial.
Leonardo Castro recovered a ball in the middle of the field, but fouled Edwin Herrera. Judge Jorge Duarte let the play continue and there, Mele avoided the goal after a shot by Jhoan Hernández deflected off an opponent.
From the subsequent corner kick came Millonarios' first goal, in the 39th minute: Hernández took a short shot, Daniel Ruiz feinted and crossed and Castro put it in with a header, with Mele committed.
There, the attitude of the Junior players was embarrassing. They did not let the game resume waiting for the VAR to review the foul, when they were different plays, and then they stood still, exposed to a second blue goal.
The play that could have been 2-0 for Millos in the first half.
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The start of the second half for Millonarios was overwhelming. In two minutes they were already up 2-0, after an extraordinary cross from Daniel Cataño and another header from Leonardo Castro. And then, at 19, Castro and Émerson Rodríguez came together in another brilliant action, which the latter transformed into 3-0, dribbling to leave Mele in the way.
When the game was looking for Millos to continue ahead, a goal by Carlos Bacca, after a pass from Yimmi Chará, meant Junior's injury time goal, at 25 minutes into the second stage.
Millonarios, as happened in Pasto, suffered a blackout and Junior took advantage of it. A penalty from Rivaldo Rodríguez to Gabriel Fuentes allowed Marco Pérez to make it 3-2, at 31.
Millionaires vs. Junior
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The game became one-on-one. Millonarios had two very clear ones: one that Leonardo Castro failed and another that Rivaldo Rodríguez missed. Junior, now, wanted to play, but he didn't find the options.
The locals ended up asking for time, again, like against Fortaleza, like against Pasto. And in the stands, nearly 30,000 spectators put their hearts to the test. Montero began to play with the clock and Gamero sent two men to wait for the ball to come out to enter the court, Juan Carlos Pereira and Santiago Giordana.
At the end of the game, Duarte gave Bacca a red card, considering that he had punched Andrés Llinás. But the VAR called him to review it and he retracted it. And so, the seven minutes of replacement that he had given, between the time burn and Bacca, became more than 10.
Millonarios endured as best they could a match that should not have suffered so much. But he achieved a key victory, which puts him among the eight and puts him with 25 points to fight for classification in the last two dates, against Pereira and Boyacá Chicó.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
@josasc
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