Boca Juniors was left out of the Copa Libertadores in the round of 16 on Tuesday, losing 6-5 to Corinthians in a penalty kick definition after drawing 0-0 at the Bombonera, as had happened in the regular 90 minutes last week. in Brazil.
In this way the “xeneizes” ended up falling in a “normally” winning instance for them in recent times, despite the fact that their specialist goalkeeper, Agustín Rossi contained two of them, the same amount that their scorer, Darío Benedetto, missed, one in the first time and the other in this definition from the 12 steps.
Corinthians will face in the quarterfinals the winner of the series between their compatriot Flamengo and Deportes Tolima, who will meet tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro after the 1-0 victory obtained by the “Cariocas” in Colombia.
The starting appearances made by Sebastián Battaglia and the patches made by his Portuguese colleague Vitor Pereira due to the numerous casualties due to injuries in the Brazilian team, the most emblematic being that of the experienced Willian (he was on the bench), generated a predictable game from his estate.
Boca was then forced to take the initiative, although this is not the main attribute that is beginning to identify the line of play that Battaglia intends, while the Brazilians, with an atypical style for teams from their country, tried to stand up to the as solid as possible close to his goalkeeper Cassio to try to get out against if the circumstances allowed it.
From this it was that for all soccer logic and team structure, Boca was forced to find loopholes on the sides, more on the right side of the skillful Exequiel Zeballos than on the left of the fast Sebastián Villa.
It is that the Colombian is more effective in the open field, and that was precisely what Corinthians did not allow with his withdrawal, because what Boca had to look for was to create spaces where there were none, and for that Zeballos was more useful in the hand by hand than Villa with his bullfights.
However, it was the former Deportes Tolima who enjoyed the first scoring opportunity for his team with a left-footed shot to the near post by Cassio that was well deflected by the corpulent visiting goalkeeper.
IT CAN’T BE, PIPA! Benedetto had an unbeatable penalty chance for the 1-0 #Mouth in view of #Corinthians and the post told him no in CONMEBOL #Liberators. pic.twitter.com/sTcxAuSRHf
– ESPN Argentina (@ESPNArgentina) July 6, 2022
The next warning that Boca was imposing conditions at home came from the other side of the field, when Zeballos unbalanced Fabio Santos and launched a precise center for the frank entry of Darío Benedetto, who in his hundredth presentation with the auriazul shirt connected defectively from the right sending the ball well over the crossbar from inside the small area itself.
This was the herald of a fatal first half for the attacker “xeneize”, since about half an hour later he was going to have the best possible opportunity to put his team ahead and he missed it.
The occasion arose after an elbow in his area by Raúl Gustavo on the face of Guillermo “Pol” Fernández, which led to a penalty sanctioned through the VAR by the Uruguayan referee Andrés Matonte and Benedetto ended up crashing against the left post of the goal of the Paulistas. Then he would send the fifth to the stands in the penalty shootout.
From then on, that half-hour fire that had been blue and yellow faded somewhat, partly because the local felt the emotional impact of a night that was coming crooked and partly because the visitors were in tune with their defensive work by see that luck was not elusive.
This was extended to the second half, but more than anything because the people from Boca were no longer able to generate the aforementioned clear arrivals of the initial stage against an appreciably inside rival.
The best of the complement then came from the left side of the local attack with the Colombian tandem Frank Fabra-Villa, since on the other side Zeballos did not have the same participation as in the first half and in fact ended up being the only change that Battaglia tried. being relieved as in the first leg by Juan Ramírez averaging the complement.
But as Boca advanced but did not attack, the Brazilians began to feel more comfortable and bet more and more chips on a draw like the 0-0 first leg that would lead them to the penalty shootout.
And this was warned by the “xeneize” fans, who began to demand greater “prodigality” from their players, fearing that the usually favorable story from the 12 steps would end up failing.
But the harangue did not manage to ignite that spark that was demanded of its soccer players and then the dry road inevitably led to the shots from the penalty spot, where the merits or demerits of the 90 minutes are filed in the drawer of excuses and regrets forever.
Battaglia had been criticized for the ways in which he had reached definitions by penalty kicks, finally winning against Racing Club for the Professional League Cup and Talleres, from Córdoba, for the Argentine Cup.
On those occasions Boca emerged victorious from the 12 steps playing poorly during the regular 90 minutes. This time the opposite happened.
