Midfielder Manuel Castro, 40 minutes into the opening half, scored the only goal.
Thanks to this victory, the team from La Plata established itself as leader of its group, when there are two dates left to finish the initial phase of the continental tournament.
The meeting ended in controversy due to a clear hand by Noguera within the Students’ area, which led to a penalty claim by the visiting team’s players.
However, Colombian referee Wilmar Roldán ignored the protests and implied that the offense by the Estudiantes defender had not been intentional.
Beyond this circumstance, the host won a fundamental victory to advance in the Cup, although they had to make an effort to overcome a very combative rival.
In fact, in several sections of the first half Nacional had more possession of the ball, good preparation, but failed in the last meters.
Almost forced to play on the counterattack, Estudiantes generated some situations, first with a header from Rogel, which Rochet took off, and later the locals also came close with another header from the defender, well covered by the Nacional goalkeeper.
Another shot by Díaz ended with a good save by Rochet, and towards the end of the first half, Godoy overflowed from the right, and enabled Castro, who finished off inside the area, and after a deflection on Yonathan Rodríguez, he ended up at the bottom of the bow.
More settled, and with the advantage obtained, Estudiantes played with the desperation of their rival, who struggled to level the score, but lacked depth: they were barely close with a cross from Lozano and another shot from Gigliotti.
Estudiantes, more comfortable to counterattack, was able to widen the difference with some approaches, a shot by Boselli, a header by Noguera and another high shot by Mas.
In the last play the controversy arose, but the judge did not sanction the penalty and everything remained as it was, to give peace of mind to Estudiantes, practically installed in the eighth finals.
Source: Ambito
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