“Paranaense is the great candidate to go to the semifinals because of its budget and the players it has. We are here to fight”said the goalkeeper Mariano Andujarwho reached 50 matches in the Copa Libertadores and 389 wearing the student jersey, the fifth in history that the La Plata club wore it the most times.
However, when analyzing the game and apparently in the crowded Arena da Baixada, the words of the experienced goalkeeper, who turned 39 on July 30 and renewed his contract with the red-and-white institution until December 2023, sounded more like cabal than like conviction.
Because reality implies that beyond the fact that the Brazilians showed muscle at the stroke of their wallets by repatriating Fernandinho, already 37 years old, from Manchester City no less, those led by Ricardo Zielinsky They weren’t far behind when it came to fighting half the court one-on-one.
In that future of the match, the locals only managed to exercise certain supremacy for brief periods of the first half, but in general terms the development was quite even and even “Pincha” had a good opportunity to break the zero through the Uruguayan Manuel Castrowhose shot hit the right side of the net.
On the other hand, the hosts managed to demand Andújar with a free kick that the goalkeeper managed to deflect down, against his left post, and not much else in those initial 45 minutes.
In the complement nothing changed too much until the middle of its course, but halfway through it the pressure of the red and black began to grow, who tried by a route that is the fort of Students like the aerial game.
There the “big men” of the La Plata team began to stand out, with the Uruguayan Augustine Roger as a standard-bearer of the resistance together with the Paraguayan Jorge Morel and Luciano Lollo.
By then, the Argentine team was already betting on some lucky counterattack on the fast feet of the Uruguayan duo made up of Castro and newcomer from Montevideo Wanderers, 23-year-old Mauro Méndez, who started his second game for the club.
Of course, the options presented to them were few and unclear, something similar in quality to what happened with those led by Luiz Felipe Scolarialthough these were more important in quantity.
So it was that after 35 minutes, in one of the many centers that fell on the student area (the striker from Tucuman Thomas Neck was one of the most pitchers), a local player won for the first time, Thiago Helenowho stuck his bald head in to defeat Andújar against the stick the archer was standing on.
However, the euphoric celebration of the local fans and the uneasiness of the visiting footballers quickly mutated after the intervention of the VAR, which told the Venezuelan referee Jesús Valenzuela that he should cancel the goal due to the advanced position of the one who had sent the center, the defender Khellven.
In the 15 minutes that remained ahead (five were added) there were not many more upsets for the Argentine team, which was about to keep everything in the last action of the match when a left-footed shot from outside the area by recently entered mateo Pellegrino (son of coach Mauricio) brushed past the right post of Bento’s goal.
And everything was just a draw, with the definition open for the next and final game that will take place next Thursday, from 9:30 p.m., in La Plata. But for now, the handful of Estudiantes fans who came to Curitiba ended up celebrating, and that was the clearest symptom of what this tie represented for the everlasting “mystical cup holder” of “Pincharrata”.
formations
Athletico Paranaense: Bento; Khellven, Pedro Henrique, Thiago Heleno and Abner; Hugo Moura and Fernandinho; Agustín Canobbio, David Terans and Tomás Cuello; Pablo. DT: Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Students: Mariano Andújar; Leonardo Godoy, Agustín Rogel, Jorge Morel, Luciano Lollo, and Emanuel Más; Fernando Zuqui, Jorge Rodríguez and Manuel Castro; Pablo Piatti and Mauro Mendez. DT: Ricardo Zielinski.
Changes in the second half: 18m. Vítor Roque for Pablo (P) and Alex Santana for Terans (P), 23m. Benjamin Rollheiser for Piatti (E), 25m. Leo Citadini for Canobbio (P) and Vitinho for Moura (P), 30m. Nehuén Paz by Zuqui (E), 40m. Mateo Pellegrino by Méndez (E) and 45m. Romulus potr Neck (P).
Admonished: Fernandinho and Moura (P). Piatti, Castro, Rogel and Mas (E)..
Referee: Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela).
Stadium: Arena da Baixada (Curitiba).
Source: Ambito
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