Pereira, champion of the BetPlay II-2022 League

The turn has come for the fans of Deportivo Pereira at the Hernán Ramírez Villegas. They did not disappoint in the stands with a full stadium and the lively illusion of being able to celebrate a title for the first time in their history. Medellín, with one of the most loyal fans in the country, only had a small space on the sports stage that they took advantage of with their famous bar and lots of color.

On the pitch, the game started as explosive as the show that the stands gave. Deportivo Pereira did not want to wait to have the first two game options in goalkeeper Marmolejo’s goal. One from Berrío and the other from striker Leo Castro. But his intention to play with advanced lines did not stop there.

Medellín was surprised with a team focused on the opposite area and with players like Vásquez and Velásquez who in the first minutes gave the game rhythm and they made Pereira see superiority on the pitch.

After the 20th minute of the match, DIM finally managed to make a game in the Pereira area, have the ball and start spinning plays from the feet of Andrés Ricaurte and Vladimir Hernández. However, Pereira took advantage of the failure in the return of the visitors with quick recoveries and filling the spaces left by the same Medellín attack players.

Pereira balanced his game in the last minutes of the first part, he used a mid block in which he gave Medellín a little more space, but without stopping attacking and looking for their forwards, Leo Castro and Brayan León who failed in the final play. The first half ended goalless.

Second half: draw in 90 minutes

Medellín approached the game in a different way at the beginning of the second half and from the first minutes they worried Pereira in his area. The goalkeeper Harlen Castillo was the protagonist in three arrivals of visitors to his goal.

However, Pereira had no difficulty in regaining possession of the ball and raising his block again when Medellín realized that going back was the best decision. Alejandro Restrepo’s team now had the objective of penetrating the visiting defense that from very early on he showed that he wanted to reach the definition from the twelve steps.

At minute 59, Pereira had one of the clearest options of the match, but could not define. First León, then Castro and then Berrío tried to score the first, but Marmolejo and his lack of aim did not allow it.

Despite Pereira’s attempts, the goal did not come. David González’s team stopped wellclosed the spaces that Pereira always uses, especially that of Zuluaga on the right that was well controlled by Arregui.

The last minutes of the game were desperate for Pereira who could not find a way to unbalance the game in the ninety minutes despite being the team that did the most for the game that was defined with shots from the maximum penalty spot.

Definition from the twelve steps: Pereira champion

Medellín began by kicking with Andrés Cadavid, a shot that went into the hands of Castillo that lit up the stadium. For Pereira, the first collector was Carlos Ramírez, who wasted it. Arregui took the second from DIM and once again Castillo was the hero of Pereira.

Leo Castro was right for the locals, Hernández did the same for Medellín, Medina scored for those led by Restrepo, Pardo also for González’s team. Zuluaga collected well for Pereira, Marrugo also scored and in the final collection, Berrío scored and gave Deportivo Pereira the first title in its history. Historic victory at the Hernán Ramírez Villegas!