Playing against The Strongest, at the Estádio Hernando Siles, Sporting Cristal achieved an epic victory in the fifth round of the group stage of the liberators. Down by a man from the 31st minute, the Peruvian side won 2-1 to move into third place in Group D with seven points. In turn, the Atigrado club finds itself in a delicate context, having six units and being in the bottom position of the group.
Putting heavy pressure on their opponent from the first minute, the Bolivian club built up finishes against a Sporting Cristal who tried not to limit themselves in defence, but couldn’t get out of the strong marking and volume put in place by the hosts . Thus, the opening scorer seemed to be a matter of time and came in a plot built from the right side of the attack. After receiving Gabriel Sotomayor’s pass on the backline, Jaime Arrascaita accelerated play and played low for Enrique Triverio, at first, to hit the back of the net in the 13th minute.
The goal, curiously, proved to be advantageous for Tiago Nunes’ men. This is because, with The Strongest opting to pull their lines and bet on their opponent’s exit to explore spaces, the Cerveceros have grown in offensive production and have reached parity. With 23 minutes to go, a quick exit from Sporting Cristal made Grimaldo find the precise movement of Brenner who, after an excellent pass, hit goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra’s way out and shook the hosts’ rope.
Needing to regain their more forward posture to regain the lead, the Stronguistas not only increased their lines of marking but also ended up sending off Gianfranco Chávez. A name that already had a yellow card, the Cristal defender committed a hard foul on Triverio and ended up receiving a second booking, leaving the Peruvian side one player down in the 31st minute. Despite the context, Sporting Cristal managed to resist well the situation of numerical disadvantage where, if there was no way to avoid the arrivals, they surrounded the immediate vicinity of their own goal and avoided sharper shots against Renato Solis’ goal.
Unsurprisingly, the pace of the match after the rest period started with the hosts looking to ramp up the intensity level of the attack. Meanwhile, the Lima team, as they managed, closed off the spaces and had great difficulty transforming this context into something conducive to counter-attacks.
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Source: Terra
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