A stellar performance by Diego ‘Mono’ Sánchez, goal of Antofagastagave this Thursday the classification to his team for the group stage of the South American Cupin a match in which Spanish Union he forced extra time and took the tie to a penalty shootout.
The Regional Calvo y Bascuñán stadium in Antofagasta was the setting in which the Pumas from the north of Chile reached the second leg with a slight advantage after winning the first leg 2-1 and were confident that it could be enough on their own ground and against his hobby
But the Hispanics came out from the initial whistle for everything, with very high pressure and hard legs, without letting their rival circulate the ball, neither in the center of the field nor in the attacking front.
And forcing the errors of the rival defense, such as the penalty that Leandro Vega committed on Stefano Magnasco and that served for ‘Mono’ Sánchez to start his particular recital. The former Unión Española goalkeeper saved the shot from Leandro Gárate, the Hispanics’ best attacking man.
The failure did not disconcert the “reds”, who, although they lost some steam at the end of the first period, returned to the field of play with the same intensity and determination, an approach that bore fruit in the 49th minute with a strong shot from outside the Rodrigo Piñero’s area against which Sánchez could do nothing.
From then to the end, chances followed one another in both areas with a Luis Mejía who also showed his class and reflexes under the sticks of Unión Española.
With no news in added time, the penalty shootout was reached in which the figure of ‘Mono Sánchez’ emerged again. The goalkeeper stopped the shots from Vicente Conelli and Thomas Galdames and took his team to the group stage of the continental tournament, where there is already another Chilean team, Unión La Calera, which ended the expectations of Ñublense, the most powerful team in the league.
