Continental cups have stolen the attention of Mouth and of Saint Lawrencewho this week will play their qualification for the quarterfinals of various competitions in Brazil. Both will travel to Belo Horizonte: the xeneizes, because on Thursday they will face Cruzeiro seeking to preserve the 1-0 achieved in the first leg, and the cuervos because tomorrow they will visit Atlético Mineiro in the rematch, after drawing 1 -1 in Bidegain. That’s why in the classic they starred in La Bombonera both appealed to alternative formations. Of course, there are still many emotions and controversies.
San Lorenzo started to smile, but Boca ended up celebrating. And the blue and yellow celebration sounds loud. The thing is that this classic is the one worth the most xeneizes: among the big teams, Boca has historically been surpassed only by San Lorenzo…
Diego Martínez reserved 10 starters and Leandro Romagnoli, 7. San Lorenzo had fun in the first half. Boca at that stage was a confusion: it made unusual collective and individual mistakes from the center to the back and hardly shot on goal. In that context, a hyper-fragile Marcos Rojo put his hand on the spot and Andrés Vombergar took advantage of the penalty to put Ciclón ahead.
Then, San Lorenzo had four clear chances to end it. Also, they didn’t give him another very clear penalty because of goalkeeper Leandro Brey’s foul on Vombergar. The VAR didn’t even check it. Impossible to understand…
The story changed in the second half. At the same break, Diego Martínez sent three starters: Luis Advíncula, Cristian Medina and Miguel Merentiel. And Boca grew dramatically. While Leandro Romagnoli took out Nicolás Tripichio and put in Elián Irala. And San Lorenzo refused.
In 10 minutes, Boca turned it around. First, with a great turn by Milton Giménez and then with a shot by Marcelo Saracchi that grazed Ezequiel Cerutti and saw no reaction from goalkeeper Facundo Altamirano. San Lorenzo came close to equalizing in a one-on-one match when Cerutti hit wide. The other two goals came at the end. Boca’s 3-1 was a great pass through the lines from Aaron Anselmino and a good resolution from Merentiel. While Iván Leguizamón made it 3-2 in the 96th with another penalty taken for a foul committed against him.
Boca imposed its biggest individual hierarchy and showed a reaction. Romagnoli strongly questioned the referee for the non-sanctioned penalty and for “small decisions that hurt us. It’s very difficult like that.”
More than an emotional boost to play on Thursday in Belo Horizonte, this victory helps Boca reach 17 points (11 games played) in the local league and be 6 points behind the sole leader Huracán, who beat Belgrano 1-0. Now the xeneizes must be confirmed before the Cruzeiro.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
