Colo Colo defeated the University of Chile this Sunday in the 192nd version of the Chilean league classic, extending his winning streak over U to ten years, establishing himself as the leader and further sinking his rival, who flirt with descent.
The anomaly in which Chilean soccer lives subtracted from the drama of an always hot meeting to which the colocolinos arrived as favorites: the University of Chile continues to travel, without its own stadium where it can attract its fans and under enormous restrictions due to their violence.
A circumstance that meant that the biggest soccer clash in the Andean country had to be played in the central city of Talca, more than three hours away by road from the capital and with only seven thousand seats reserved for the fans of the U , which acted as a local, and without invited albas bars.
Without the encouragement of the fans, the game turned face very soon for the locals, with victory as an urgency. Or at least that’s what the fans thought when after three minutes the referee Piero Maza signaled an early penalty in favor of the blues by hand of Esteban Pávez in the area that seemed involuntary.
But Cristian Palacios wanted to adjust too much on the frame defended by the Chilean international Bryan Cortés and the ball went wide after touching the outside of the post.
The error did not decompose the locals, who remained stronger and better positioned until in minute 22 a penetration into the area by Martín Lucero ended with a clear foul by Navarrete that was sanctioned by the judge after being warned from the stands by the VAR and review the play on the monitor.
The Argentine striker did not waste the gift and beat Campos with a low missile well adjusted to the post.
The match then entered an odd one, with Colo Colo positioned but without fluidity, who was noticeable losing magic in the creation area, and a willful, rougher U, always looking for his captain, almost a shipwreck in attack .
But Ronnie Fernández needs little to score. He has spent a whole fateful season as the star of a team that has not finished coming back and the first clear he had put the tables on the scoreboard in the 34th minute with a great goal, a trademark of the house, at the half turn after a great movement inside of the area.
This is how the break was reached after an even first half, in which the distances that exist today both in the game and in the classification were barely seen.
A different episode from the second half, in which the Cacique dominated, was better, better managed the physical effort and showed why he is the intractable leader in Chile.
First Leonardo Gil, in minute 61, in a choral play by Colo Colo inside the rival area that showed the defensive fragility of the U and then Martín Lucero, after a great header in the area free of a mark, put the ground and left the University of Chile in a very complicated situation.
Only three points from relegation -today Antofagasta marks it- and with a tough calendar in sight: Unión Española, which is fighting with Colo Colo and Curicó Unido -another of the top- before facing the Catholic University in the university derby that will serve to reopen the national stadium, closed due to the reform for the 2023 Pan American Games.
Colo Colo, meanwhile, remains the leader, with a six-point advantage over Núblense, second, seven over Curicó Unido and nine over Palestinian, while Unión Española, which has deflated after the winter break, is fifth, with a party less.
Universidad de Chile is twelfth, six points behind Antofagasta and eight behind Coquimbo Unido, both teams now in relegation positions. EFE
