Atlético Junior sinks into the semi-finals of Liga Betplay II-2022, in which they have not scored a single point in the first two days. He fell with Pereira on a visit and this Wednesday he could not face Millonarios. He’s a Group A colero and doesn’t seem to have a way out.
Coach Julio Comesaña spoke to the media after the 0-1 defeat against Alberto Gamero’s team and was discouraged by the multiple losses to face the auction of the semifinal phase. He even let himself be seen regretting the classification among the eight and now suffering from so many absences, most due to injury. The only thing he valued against Millonarios was the performance of goalkeeper Jefersson Martínez.
“I aspire to end all this suffering. We were not in a position to enter as we came from. We made a great effort. Now, entering at eight is a suffering until December 7, the nice thing is to arrive fresh and whole. Today we lost three more players with muscle injuries. 14 injured and nine with muscle injuries! Do you think it’s normal?” Comesaña questioned.
And he acknowledged that “this is not the right situation to put a boy, this is for the older ones. I know this could happen, but we are at a total disadvantage (…) I honestly don’t know what’s going on, I never talked to the people who were here,” he said, referring to the physical work that Junior had with the previous coach, Juan Cruz Real.
“When the minutes pass, the legs do not respond, this team is dismantled. I have practically not trained the team since I came, when am I going to train them? We play on Sunday, tomorrow is recovery, when we train, on Friday they are not recovered and not only physically, but also mentally. There are things that yell at us and people ignore what is happening“, he mentioned.
Comesaña was concerned about the next challenge for his team, which will be the weekend in Bogotá: “What are we going to do? Go to Bogotá again, the altitude, the El Campín pitch, who are we taking? There are two or three positions where all the players are injured. Now I told Gamero you put two strikers on top of how we were, why didn’t you lend me one. There is no solution at this time. It was better not to enter, the criticism lasted a week“.
The Uruguayan coach concluded by saying that Junior’s problem is “very serious” but that they will have to go out and play even if they have to use players from the U-20. “This team is totally dismantled, to say anything else is lying. There is no worthwhile solution. The idea is not to make papers because we are already big“.
