The Olympia of Paraguay beat this Wednesday the Cesar Vallejo Peru 0-1 with a headed goal by forward Jorge Recalde in the first leg of the first round of the Libertadores Cup of America, which was played at the National Stadium in Lima.
The team led by former Peruvian international José ‘Chemo’ del Solar came out with intensity to look for the first half of the game and just after 9 minutes the attacker Osnar Noronha scared the Paraguayans with a shot that the rival goalkeeper, Alfredo Aguilar, ended up controlling No problem.
Olimpia’s reaction was quick and, a few minutes later, Fernando Cardozo and Alejandro Silva appeared, although the parity on the scoreboard was not broken until the 29th minute of the duel with Recalde’s header after an assist from central defender Antolín Alcaraz.
One of the clearest chances for the Trujillo team to equalize the match came in the 39th minute, when after a corner kick Noronha was left alone in front of the goal, but he lacked efficiency to get the tie and finished off towards the post.
Carlos Ascues (César Vallejo) disputes a ball with Fernando Cardozo (Olimpia)
In the second half of the clash, the Paraguayan cast had several opportunities to increase the score.
The 2-0 seemed to be defined in the 54th minute, when Leandro Fleitas lost the ball and Derlis Gonzalez recovered it, who tried to hang it, but did not calculate well and the ball ended up wide.
Twelve minutes later, the Peruvians responded with a free kick that could have equalized, when attacker Abdiel Arroyo, who came on replacing Patricio Arce, sought Aguilar’s goal with a shot from outside the area.
César Vallejo’s mission was not easy against the Dean, three-time champion of the Libertadores (1979, 1990 and 200), but with this result and his score at 0, the Peruvian cast added its first defeat at home and 435 minutes in that tournament without scoring a single goal. The last one was the great goal that midfielder Alejandro Hohberg scored against Sao Paulo in 2016.
Thus, César Vallejo saw the attempt to take advantage of his soccer rhythm frustrated against a Paraguayan team that he has not been able to contract due to a sanction imposed on him and that arrived at the National Stadium in Lima with the absence of captain Richard Torres on his payroll, for muscle injury.
The second leg of the series will be played on February 16 at the Defensores del Chaco stadium in Asunción.
DATA SHEET
Cesar Vallejo-Olimpia 0-1
0 – Cesar Vallejo: Carlos Degrees; Carlos Cabello (m.45, Erick Morillo), Renzo Garcés, Leandro Fleitas (m.60, Benjamín Ampuero), Orlando Núñez; Carlos Ascues (m. 72, Jorge Ríos), Arquímedes Figuera, Frank Ysique; Osnar Noronha, Santiago Silva and Patricio Arce (m.63, Abdiel Arroyo).
Coach: Jose Guillermo ‘Chemo’ Del Solar
1 – Olympia: Alfredo Aguilar; Víctor Salazar, Saúl Salcedo, Antolín Alcáraz, Iván Torres; Alejandro Silva (m. 85, Santiago Vera), Hugo Quintana (m. 85, Adelio Zárate), Edgardo Orzusa, Fernando Cardozo; Jorge Recalde (d. 71, Guillermo Paiva) and Derlis González.
Coach: Julio Caceres.
Goal: 0-1, Jorge Recalde (m. 29)
Referee: the Venezuelan Jesús Valenzuela admonished Torres (m.27) and Salazar (m.38).
Incidents: first leg of the first qualifying phase of the Copa Libertadores, played at the National Stadium in Lima before some 5,000 spectators
