Atlético Nacional who arrived as a favorite to be the finalist of group A of the final home run of the Betplay-II League, said goodbye to the final instance of the Colombian professional soccer championship with a tremendous defeat at Deportivo Pereira, but without being able to fulfill the longing of his fans to get a new star.
The Antioquia team He came to prevail at home, the Atanasio Girardot stadium from the first half and with forcefulness, in minute 4 of the first half, they scored the first goal of the match in a counterattack in which Yeison Guzmán finished off inside the Matecaña area, after the assistance of Danovis Banguero.
But the purslane team was going for more, and in minute 6 they remained in the danger zone of Pereira, they practically had them locked up in their area. There Jonathan Marulanda tried with a shot that deflected to the right and led to a new corner kick.
There Guzmán reappeared, finishing with a head, but he missed and sent the ball out of the goal zone, on the right side of the arch of Aldair Quintana.
Nacional was determined to score, so in the following minutes of the match they kept trying with failed shots inside the area and with more still ball plays, without major obstacles within the defense of Pereira.
For the 27th minute the second goal of the purslane arrived, in a play in which Andrés Andrade faced four men from the Matecaña defense and that when he finished he was left with a rebound, which allowed him to define better on the right side of the goal to score with a relentless shot.
Before the end of the first half, the Medellín club continued within the area of the Pereira trying with the shots of Andrés Andrade and Jefferson Duque, but they were not successful.
Back on the playing field in the second half, the purslane came back to prevail in the first minutes, first with a failed shot by Jefferson Duque in the 50th minute that was lost on the left side of the goal defended by Harlen Castillo, who lived a game to forget.
And without letting them breathe, the Nacional players went in a counterattack from the middle of the field where Andrade enables Yeison Guzmán coldly finished off the left post and thus scored the third goal.
Pereira did not react, and after two minutes they scored the fourth goal, after a play that began in the middle of the playing field with a pass made by the player Jarlan Barrera to Banguero, in turn assisted Guzmán who from outside the area gave a strong shot to score.
These minutes turned into a nightmare for the visitors, because three minutes later came the goal that sealed the victory of Nacional in a speed play outside the area, which began with a pass from Banguero that enabled Sebastián Gómez inside the area and that he defined over the Pereira goalkeeper to get the fifth goal.
From this moment on, the purslane momentum dropped a bit, while Pereira managed to slow down a bit the advance of the Medellín team. The Matecaña team then tried to get into Nacional’s area, and in a clearance attempt, Carlos Ramírez suffered a foul inside the area by defender Nelson Palacio, which the VAR confirmed to Lisandro Castillo who conceded a penalty that converted into a goal the player Rafael Navarro.
Despite not continuing in the final, Nacional could participate in an international soccer fair such as the Copa Conmebol Sudamericana, since due to its good campaign in the first phase of the tournament, it currently occupies second place in the reclassification table.
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