He National Athletic was crowned this Wednesday champion of the Colombia Cup by beating his backyard rival, the Independent Medellin0-1. With this achievement Atlético managed to ‘save the year’ after not having qualified for the league final, of which Junior de Barranquilla was the champion.
The goal that gave the Verdolaga team the title was the work of winger Andrés Román, after a pass from Uruguayan Camilo Cándido, who constantly supported the attack of the King of Cups. The first leg, also played at the Atanasio Girardot, ended goalless.
The advantage could have been greater in this second match, but the Atlético Nacional players lacked aim on at least three clear opportunities. In addition, the post returned a shot by Andrés Sarmiento to the field. In the final stretch of the first half, DIM managed to have more of the ball and established itself in the rival field, but was unable to translate that dominance into the scoreboard.
Uruguayan goalkeeper Washington Aguerre had a lot of work, unlike his Atlético Nacional colleague, David Ospina, who had a quiet night; He was barely disturbed by a header from Baldomero Perlaza in the first 45 minutes.
With the score against, Independiente Medellín tried to equalize the actions and monopolized the ball. However, Nacional retreated well and did not suffer any major upsets in the complementary part. He even had attempts to spin counterattack plays that almost increased the score, like a shot by Juan Manuel Zapata that crashed into the base of the post.
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DIM’s last hope of taking the game to penalties died in stoppage time, when Alexis Serna came close to scoring the ball with a header that skimmed Ospina’s goal. With this, Atlético Nacional won its eighth title, third consecutive title in this competition and reaffirms that it is the King of Colombian Cups since it has four Superligas, two Libertadores Cups, two Merconorte Cups, two Inter-American Cups and one South American Cup Winners’ Cup.
