What game did those who chose to watch the Spanish Superclásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid miss? It’s that almost at the same time, in La Plata, the not always attractive Gimnasia-Estudiantes was played (due to the high number of draws)… And this time it was a great game that was difficult to forget.
The classic from La Plata was a new proof of the magic of “El Producto”, as Argentine soccer is called, generally as a joke due to the eccentricities -in the best of cases- that affect the ball in these parts.
In El Bosque things started late by almost 11 minutes. The reasons? Several. It was as if the net of the tripero arch needed an adjustment, that there were many people on the wire fences and, above all, that in the student bench there were quantities and quantities of salt -supposedly it brings bad luck- that had to be washed from the seatswhich were also less than necessary, so they brought some plastic chairs for the visiting substitutes.
Of kids and not so kids
Regarding football, the event featured two teams with a weak present but very different in terms of their assembly. In summary, They were the gymnastics kids (seven Under 24) against the Estudiantes veterans (six over 33 years old).
And in the first minutes the two faces of the youth of the Wolf were seen. On the one hand, left-handed Alan Lescano (midfielder, 21 years old, 8 games in First) came out playing from the back with total audacity and put in a spectacular pass that ended with the crack youngster Benjamín Domínguez (winger, 19 years old, 35 games, one goal) getting into the area and being taken by the arm by Luciano Lollo (35 years old) but without even asking for an offence: “sin” of youth in this football of exaggerations and claims.
A minute later, winger for Estudiantes, Pablo Piatti (33 years old) who stings to the bottom taking advantage of the no offside and puts the entire defense to sleep, puts the center and finds only Mauro Boselli (37 years old), who hand in hand with the goalkeeper did what he knows best and put his team up after four minutes. Piatti’s fanfare was so surprising that even the television commentator Gustavo López asked for offside as a wingerso it went viral on the networks.
Still at a disadvantage, Gymnastics did not shrink, taking advantage of the Estudiantes fearful pose in Eduardo Domínguez’s second game as DT. The kids continued to show their daring, as with Lescano testing with an Olympic corner and making Mariano Andújar -the best of Estudiantes- wallow at 39 years old. The lefty and Domínguez were added the central midfielder Ignacio Miramón (19 years old, 11 games), capable of stepping on it and engaging in the hottest area of midfield to manage the strings of his team and have rented, for example, Ascacíbar for almost the entire game.
Chirola Romero, a jean player
At 28 minutes, Boselli opened with Leonardo Godoy on the right and he ran into Chirola Romero’s mark. Nothing strange so far if it were from 1998 or 2016. But of course, Chirola is no longer a Lobo player. The DT in jeans and a shirt screwed up -literally- when Godoy’s ball went over the line, collided with the player and was ejected. “The Product”, again.
Gymnastics repeated its formula over and over again with Lescano’s balls and Domínguez’s piques and It became predictable against a rival super satisfied with what was happening. He lacked daring from a tactical or technical point of view. It was the second. At 55, Domínguez put together a Maradona play on the left -leaving three on the road, pipe included- and although it ended on the side, it shook the foundations pinchas. Hand throw, Comba center and entry through the center of the area and only from Lescano to put an impressive header that made the Forest explode with 1-1.
Triumph, tears and invasion
The game was for Gymnastics, as several times during the 13 years in which the Wolf could not celebrate in the classic. But this time it was given: penalty at 80, referee Tello did not hesitate and neither did Cristian Tarragona despite the one and a thousand distractions he suffered before executing. The forward put it in the angle and Gimnasia held the 2-1 in the final minutes without backing down and with a lot of personality so that its people celebrate and get excited like they haven’t done since 2010, after 18 classics. So much so that there was even an invasion of the pitch, like in the old days.
