The flamingo consolidated this Thursday his perfect campaign in Group H of the Libertadores Cup with three wins in the same number of outings by defeating the Chileans from the Catholic University with a ‘doublet’ of Gabigol and a bit of Lázaro.
Universidad Católica fell to third place with 3 points, 3 less than those obtained by Talleres de Córdoba, and only above Sporting Cristal, which has not added in the tournament.
The Brazilians took the lead very soon, in the 8th minute, through Gabriel Barbosa ‘Gabigol’, who advanced down the left flank and took advantage of a filtered pass from Bruno Henrique to beat goalkeeper Sebastián ‘Carrot’ Pérez at the near post.
By then Paulo Sousa’s men seemed better planted in the field of the San Carlos de Apoquindo stadium.
At 16 minutes, Mauricio Isla, a Chilean who was trained in the Catholic but never debuted with the first team, sent the ball into his own net after a commotion in the area and left the game tied.
Lázaro, author of one of Flamengo’s three goals, in a match match with Juan Leiva
The Chileans tried to show their will, but they ran into a very vertical Flamengo that easily generated danger, especially on the right wing.
‘El Zanahoria’, highly criticized by some of the fans, supported his team until the 34th minute, in which Bruno Henrique again took advantage of a hole in the left side of the rival defense to serve Gabigol’s second goal on a plate , who only had to blow the ball into the net.
The Henrique-Gabigol connection, a headache throughout the match for those from San Carlos de Apoquindo, worked again in the second half, although without the effectiveness of the first half against a defense from the Catholic University, which ruined the good work midfield and forward.
The Cruzados attacked with solvency and won most of the duels in midfield, but every time the ball hovered around the area the wall planted by Rodrigo Valenzuela in his international debut trembled.
A false start by Sebastián Galani in the 85th minute allowed Pablo Lázaro to put the third on the scoreboard and leave the match almost sentenced.
Chileans, with more heart than head
In the following minutes, the Catholic University tried with more heart than head, in the midst of the fury of the fans, who began to throw objects at the rival, but it was only enough to make up the result with a goal, with some luck on the rebound, by Diego Buonanotte with a minute to go.
The fourth day of the Group will put Talleres face to face on their field against Flamengo on May 4, and Universidad Católica in the Sporting Cristal payments the next day.
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