América and Junior starred in an interesting match, from the outset, at the Pascual Guerrero. The victory remained for the locals, who managed to maintain the advantage, despite the improvement of the Barranquilleros in the second half.
Juan Cruz Real, Junior coach, highlighted the work of his team, where he stated that he did not feel inferior to his team compared to the Scarlets. In addition, he remembered his time a few years ago at América, where he managed to become champion. This was what the Argentine said about the commitment.
Balance of the match: In the general balance, in the process, we were superior, more so in the second half. Football has these things, the rival was effective. America sought in the second half to fall back and look for counterattacks. We played hand in hand, we lacked more clarity in the congestion with players in front of the area.
I am satisfied with the general balance, we played better in the second half. The team continues to behave with the game model that we have been developing. On Wednesday we played the Cup semi-final.
Superiority on the pitch and virtues on the pitch: I don’t think it was due to pressure from the rival. In the first half we had unforced losses. It is normal that the rival, with the model of counterattacking, the rival generates problems for you. I think it was more my own mistakes. As the game progressed we were superior, we lacked having that last pass or center. We did not translate dominance into clear scoring chances.
Carlos Sierra goal: he’s a great player, he didn’t fit into our system. He didn’t fit what we wanted, I’m glad he scores goals, but not today. Those decisions led us to play another and we came out champions. I’m happy for him, individually.
Complications with the rejections that led to actions for America: Sierra and Portilla have a good shot, we were not attentive to block the spikes. We do not change the module. I’m happy because Junior came to propose to Cali. We needed to be clearer in the last third. I have to think how to solve all situations. Every big team should play like this away and at home.
Souvenir of America: It’s nice that people recognize and remember. I feel grateful to the people. Today we had the field of America, we played more hand in hand behind. There were previous games when we started where maybe yes. Now, in Medellín we played a good game. We did not have clarity in attack. The statistics mark it, the possession was ours, it was almost on our side.
