The holidays are over, the break is over, it’s time for the competition, to show what weapons Junior and Millonarios have to face this season. Today they measure their strength and show their moving faces in the first leg of the Super League (8 p.m., Win +), the tournament that pits the two 2023 champions against each other.
Junior comes to this duel inflated, as he is the recent champion, and his team is almost the same to face the new challenges, with attacker Carlos Bacca at the helm. The fans are motivated, there is a carnival atmosphere, there is euphoria, there is passion, there is a desire to see the Shark again on the field, with its sharp teeth, to go in search of the crown that will make it Super Champion of the country.
It will be your starter in a season in which you will also have the League and the Copa Libertadores. Junior wants to show that with the continuity of their champion roster and with the signings that were made, they can go for new conquests. “You always have to dream, dreams are free (…) We must go for all the championships,” Bacca said last week.
Photo:
César Melgarejo / EL TIEMPO
Junior shook the transfer market with the hiring of scorer Marco Pérez, midfielder Víctor Cantillo and Yimmi Chará, who is one of the great figures in terms of hiring for the 2024 season of Colombian football.
“I think this roster is quite complete, we have the team that ended up playing and became champion, and these players are reinforcements because they come to make what we already had much stronger,” coach Reyes told El Heraldo.
Millionaires have no less expectations. It was the champion of the first semester of last year, it retains the majority of the roster that fought the previous semester, it has its references, a roster led again by coach Alberto Gamero and captain Mackalister Silva. He is a Millonarios eager to fight again, to win titles again.
For that, he kept his main roster and was reinforced in some positions, the full-backs Delvin Alfonzo and Danovis Banguero arrived, the goalkeeper Diego Novoa arrived to fight for Montero’s position, the attacker Santiago Giordana arrived, who is in the squad and today could have his first official minutes dressed in blue.
“Millonarios is a team that always tries to go out and look for results wherever we go, without fear where we go to play. Sometimes the rival doesn’t let us. The mentality is to look for results. We will have that possibility. There is a structure that I have seen that is a goalkeeper, 4 – 4 in a diamond and two forwards,” said coach Alberto Gamero, who will have the great challenge of amalgamating the team with two area forwards such as Leonardo Castro and Giordana. Will they play together? Will spaces be removed? Will they fight hand to hand for ownership? Gamero has already given clues and does not rule out that both can share the game, even if it is for a few minutes.
“In football there are structures. Santiago (Giordana) started coaching with us recently, before he arrived we were looking at a different structure. However, we manage many structures. We try to look at what is best for the team and how they feel,” Gamero commented.
Of course, the team will have notable losses to face this first leg of the Super League, since players like Juan Pablo Vargas will not be able to be there, a notable absence in the defense, as well as Daniel Cataño and Juan Carlos Pereira. Another casualty is that of Daniel Ruiz, who is with the Colombian National Team that will play the Pre-Olympic Championship in Venezuela starting Saturday.
Junior and Millonarios want the Super League, for prestige, to start the season on the right foot, for rivalry. Arturo Reyes already announced: “I think it is very important for the club and for all the junior players, and we want to win it.” Gamero does not think differently, his team never plays to perform, but to win. He is in the ambassador blood. So without a doubt the blues are going to want this crown.
In addition, the Super League will serve the two coaches to present their teams, to show their strengths and their new faces, to amalgamate the new additions. What better than a title at stake like this to start the engines and start the season.
Probable lineups
Junior: Mele; Pacheco, Peña, Olivera, Fuentes, Moreno, Cantillo; Caicedo, Chará, Enamorado; Bacca. DT: Arturo Reyes
Millionaires: Montero; Alfonzo, Llinás, Arias, Banguero; Giraldo, Vega; Paredes, Silva, Beckham; Castro. Coach: Alberto Gamero
8 p. m.
TV WIn +
PABLO ROMERO
Editor of EL TIEMPO
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2024-01-18 03:39:02
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