He Caracas He came back this Wednesday to win 2-1 over Paraguayan Freedom on the fourth date of Group H of the Libertadores Cup and the Venezuelan team is excited to go to the round of 16 of the continental tournament, where it marches in second place.
The juvenile Saul Guarirapa he scored the decisive target in the 87th minute, powerfully finishing off a pass pumped from the left by attacker Robert Hernández.
It was the first ball that the 17-year-old striker, who had entered the game just 3 minutes earlier, shot on goal.
The other goal for Caracas was scored by another player, the attacker Jorge Echeverría, who converted a penalty in the 48th minute.
Earlier, midfielder Matías Espinoza had given “Guma” the advantage with a bit of luck and a showy individual action by his teammate, striker Carlos Ferreira.
At 44 minutes, Ferreira caught a ball in the area that Caracas could not clear and with very little space he dribbled to a rival and faced the goal, but when goalkeeper Velásquez faced him he launched a back pass that Espinoza only had to push to background.
It was the most colorful play of the first half, which was played with more nerves than ideas.
But still nervous, the Paraguayan team was better in the first 45 minutes and could even obtain more revenue if Martinez had not thrown out a good opportunity at 15 minutes.
At the beginning, when Caracas only had Argentine Alexis Blanco on the attack front -of notable sacrifice tonight-, the Venezuelan team could only disturb the goal of Martín Silva on two occasions, although without goal direction: first with a header Osio marro, at nine minutes, and then with a shot by Contreras that hit a rival and went to the corner kick.
But Espinoza's goal at the end of the first half forced Caracas to change their drawing and mentality, a change that finally led to victory.
Now, Caracas is second in the group with seven points, the same as Boca, which has a better goal differential and with whom it tied in the first leg, held before the pandemic.
Libertad is third with six points, while the Colombian Independiente de Medellín (DIM) counts his games due to losses.
This Thursday, DIM and Boca will complete the fourth date of the group, when the Argentine team visits the Colombian.
– Data sheet:
2. Caracas: Beycker Velásquez; Eduardo Fereira (m.84, Saúl Guarirapa), Carlos Rivero, Diego Osio, Sandro Notaroberto; Ricardo Andreutti (m.46, Jorge Echeverría), Leonardo Flores; Robert Hernández (m.90, Javier Maldonado), Anderson Contreras (m.84, Junior Moreno), Richard Celis (m.76, Rosmel Villanueva); Alexis Blanco.
Coach: Noel Sanvicente.
1. Freedom: Martín Silva; Paulo Da Silva, Luis Cardozo, Pablo Adorno; Luciano Abecasis (m.60, Daniel Bocanegra), Hugo Martínez (m.65, Sergio Aquino), Alexander Mejía, Blas Cáceres (m.71, Rodrigo Bogarín), Matías Espinoza (m.60, Rodrigo Rivero); Carlos Ferreira and Adrián Martínez (m.70, Oscar Cardozo).
Coach: Ramón Díaz.
Goals: 0-1, m.44: Matías Espinoza. 1-1, m.48: Jorge Echeverría, from a penalty. 2-1, m.87: Saúl Guarirapa.
Referee: Colombian Nicolás Gallo. He admonished Abecasis, Richard Celis, Pablo Adorno, Paulo Da Silva, Alexander Mejía and Leonardo Flores.
Incidents: match of the fourth day of Group H of the Copa Libertadores disputed behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic at the Olympic Stadium in Caracas.