Lanús-ARG made the home advantage count to win over Flamengo this Wednesday, in the first leg of the Recopa Sul-Americana, at Estadio Ciudad de Lanus, in Argentina. Although inferior on paper, the team won most of the clashes in midfield and grew with fatal counterattacks. Star of the night, striker Castillo had two goals disallowed for offside, but saved the third chance against the red and black, making the Argentines come away with 1-0.
Now the Rio team will have to win with at least two goals to win the title. The advantage is that the match will be at Maracanã, next Thursday, at 9:30 pm.
Without a fixed center forward in the starting eleven, red-and-black coach Filipe Luís tried to rely on the team’s movement and individual quality in attack, but the players had difficulty overcoming the rival defense. More than that, the losses in attack cost pressure on the defense, which also didn’t play the best of games.
The first scare occurred 10 minutes into the first half. In a rehearsed free kick, striker Castillo took advantage of a deflected ball at the edge of the area to open the scoring, but as he was in an irregular position, the goal was disallowed. At another point, Salvio also had space on the right side, but he shot clumsily and Rossi saved it in two halves.
In one of the few moments that the team managed to infiltrate the rival defense, with a quick climb, Cebolinha stopped in the hands of goalkeeper Losada, missing a great chance.
Carrascal, on the other hand, did not take advantage when the goalkeeper left the penalty area badly to cut off Flamengo’s attack. The Colombian overcame Losada, continued with the ball, but between kicking the ball into the goal and passing it to his teammate, he decided to make the second move, but passed the ball wrong and the defense cut him off.
Without being effective with the initial idea, Filipe Luís bet on Pedro’s entry serving Arrascaeta — in another ineffective match — to give more presence in the area, and added Samuel Lino in place of Cebolinha.
Still, the team continued without generating many chances in attack and saw the opponent grow on the field. In another cross into the area, this time from a corner, left-back Marcich positioned himself to shoot the rebound at the goal, Castillo took the opportunity to put his foot on the shot and divert the ball’s trajectory to find the net. But the red-black team was once again saved by the rival attacker’s sense of space, who was once again in an irregular position.
But the third chance was not wasted. After Pedro lost the ball in the middle, the team quickly reached the left flank. The striker received a cross from an unmarked Marcich and, behind the backs of the defense duo, headed the ball into the back of the goal, finally celebrating without being interrupted by the linesman. Giving the winning goal and the advantage for Lanús.
