Defense and Justice returns with a great draw from Brazil

Defense and Justice got a very valuable tie in Rio de Janeiro against Botafogo, comfortable leader of the Brasileirao, by 1-1, in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Copa Sudamericana.

The Brazilian team opened the scoring with a header from Gabriel Pires, but the “Halcón” leveled it with a courageous Nicholas Tripicchio. Now the key will be defined next Wednesday at the Banfield stadium.

The Argentine team came from seven consecutive victories in the South American Cup and has gone undefeated in eight games, since it only lost at the beginning of the tournament, in April of this year, against Millonarios, from Colombia, by 3-0.

The team led by Julio Vaccari he planted himself to play the protagonist with high pressure, with the projection of the sides Agustin Sant’Anna and Alexis Sotowith a lot of work Julian Lopez and Kevin Gutierrez in the middle, while Santiago Solari and Gaston Togni they opened the field.

For his part, Bruno Lage arranged a mix between starters and substitutes, since Botafogo’s big bet is to win the Brasileirao, where they are the leader with an 11-unit advantage over the guard Palmeiras. That is why he placed Spanish international Diego Costa and Argentine Leonel Di Plácido on the substitute bench.

While the former Independiente, Víctor Cuesta, captain of the team, directed the defense of “Fogao”, which had a half populated with five players, led by Danilo Barbosa and up front Matheus Nascimento and Víctor Sá.

But Enrique Bologna He must have appeared with a formidable cover on Lucas Fernándes’s point-blank shot, who took advantage of a rebound. And towards the end of the first half, the Rio de Janeiro club pressed high and began to surround the area of ​​Florencio Varela’s “Halcón”.

Bologna He beat Fernándes again, who dispatched a shot from outside the area. But the scheme diagrammed by Vaccari gave the Argentine team revenue in the first part.

For the second half, Lage ordered the entry of two weight forwards such as Diego Costa and Luis Henrique and took out the inexpressive Nascimento and Sá, to arrive in Argentina with some distance in favor.

But the visitor entered very deep and Nicolás “Uvita” Fernández had an opportunity that the Paraguayan goalkeeper Roberto “Gatito” Fernández covered. But at the best moment for the Argentines, Diego Costa recovered a ball in midfield, passed it to Tche Tche who shot a cross and Gabriel Pires headed it down to score the first goal for “Fogao”.

The goal marked a change in the game and control, since Botafogo began to manage the times and lock the Argentine team in their half of the field. This is how Bologna had to shine against the very fast Luis Henrique, who had just entered.

Defense had a clear shot at 30 minutes, when Kevin “Facha” Gutiérrez launched a long ball for Gastón Togni, who got into the area and shot just wide. A couple of minutes later, “Uvita” captured a ball from outside the area and took a very strong shot that “Gatito” Fernández rebounded for the newly entered Nicolás Tripicchio, who finished off, there was a second rebound and then he introduced it into the goal for a deserved equality.

Faced with the tie, Lage decided to send the starters onto the field, including his scorer Janderson, but he did so with five minutes to go and the few fans present whistled at the “Fogao” coach.

In the added time, Botafogo had a hard time reaching the Bologna goal and the “soldiers” of the “Halcón” fought it in the middle and kept the ball away from their area. Lage’s mistake with the proposal, and Vaccari’s successes with the changes, ended up marking the fate of the match.

Formations and scores