Millonarios shone at home against Fortaleza thanks to a brilliant Daniel Ruíz, who gave three assists against his former team and practically sentenced the tie in the quarterfinals of the 2022 BetPlay Cup.
The duel began with a surprising opportunity from the visiting cast. Adrián Parra entered the area from the right sector and took a very strong shot to the near post. Álvaro Montero responded well and without complicating himself he sent everything to the corner kick.
From that play, the albiazul team completely took possession of the ball. In this task, Daniel Cataño and Daniel Ruíz were fundamental. Both creatives started in the middle and distributed to the bands, mainly to the left. For its part, the visit chose to lock themselves behind with 5-6 players inside the area.
The first clear of the owner of the house, about the 13th minute, ended at the bottom of the net. Juan Camilo García led in three quarters of the field, played short with Ruíz and he leaked a brilliant pass between the lines for Diego Herazo. The attacker, who replaced Luis Carlos Ruíz, controlled and defined well before the departure of Yimmi Gómez.
Just three minutes later the formula was repeated. Ruíz received on the edge of the area and on this occasion he sent a lobbed pass to Herazo who let the rival defender pass and although he finished off bitten he was able to seal his double.
Fortaleza chose to increase its defensive block. Far from looking for the discount, it seemed that the idea was not to receive more goals. Even in several passages goalkeeper Gómez was seen trying to resume quickly, but all his teammates were no more than 20 meters away. Diego Abadía, forward ambassador on loan at ‘Forma’, was alone.
Precisely the clearest option for Fortaleza came at minute 34, again thanks to Parra’s mischief. The attacker took advantage of a weak rebound from the blue defense to face inside the area, with a hitch he eliminated the last defender and although he wanted to cross his shot, the ball went slightly off target.
In the final moments, Millos tried his luck with long shots from Cataño and Herazo, but Gómez saved without major inconvenience.
For the second half, coach Nelson Flórez withdrew Abadía, whose performance was weak due to the offensive passivity, to make way for Juan Córdoba. The variant was of little use because in a few seconds, the local extended its advantage.
After a long clearance, Cataño captured the ball in the left zone and gave it to Ruíz. The Bogota native held on and leaked his third assist of the night, now for Andrés Gómez, who defined between the legs of the rival goalkeeper. Absolute party in El Campín.
Alberto Gamero moved the bench at 65 minutes. Triple substitution. Herrado, Ruíz and Gómez withdrew to make way for Mackalister Silva, Jades Valencia and Édgar Guerra. The latter did not take long to generate danger, after making a bicycle inside the area and attempting a shot that crashed into his marker.
The changes were a balm for the albiazul attack. Jades had a one-on-one that missed and Cataño made a space for himself to take a mid-distance bombardment that passed very close to the goal.
With the duel sentenced, Gamero had the luxury of giving the last quarter of an hour to Kliver Moreno, who returned after a complicated knee injury (cruciate ligament, meniscus) that took him away from the courts for 15 months. The stadium was filled with applause for the 21-year-old midfielder.
At minute 79 the fourth local goal almost arrived. Guerra stole a rival start and sent a pass back to Mackalister. The captain received and tried to chip it, but the ball went slightly wide.
It was finally a 3-0 victory for Millonarios and left the series practically on track. The return duel will be played on August 17 at the Metropolitano de Techo.
