Sporting Cristal advanced this Tuesday to the third phase of the Copa Libertadores 2023, after coming back from the defeat suffered in the first leg and thrashing Nacional de Paraguay 5-1 at the National Stadium in Lima.
The light blues scored the five goals, which helped them to lift the 2-0 defeat suffered in Asunción, in the second half of the match. Ávila twice at minutes 46 and 67, Ignacio at 74, Lora at 89 and Corozo at 90+5 were the scorers for the locals, while Caballero scored the solitary goal of the visit at minute 47.
Lora’s goal, which was already enough for the classification of the celestials, he raised the National Stadium for his beautiful invoice.
After receiving a long pass along the line on the right wing, Lora dodged his marker with an oriented control, and then kicked the visiting goal, gently hitting the ball from the top of the area with his right foot, to get the Paraguayan goalkeeper Héctor Espínola out of his hat.
Nacional, who had the series under control until minute 75 of the returnhe lost the defensive order and above all, the firmness and forcefulness in his rear.
The match began with the Paraguayans enduring the siege of the Peruvians during the first 10 minutes. But little by little, La Academia managed to lower the rhythm and the ball to Cristal, and balance the game.
The locals, with a very thick game, with more than 70% possession of the ball but without chances, they had a goal disallowed in the 34th minute for Loyola’s offside.
In minute 45+3 Nacional had the 1-0 that would have extended their advantage on aggregate, when a recovery in midfield left Ocampos and Martínez hand in hand with their defenders, but they defined very badly and deviated from Renato Solís’ goal.
Cristal returned for the second act with a much more ambitious and aggressive attitude. And just in the 46th minute, the newly admitted Irven Ávila received a cross from the ball and opened the scoring.
But the celestial joy did not last long, because the next minute Nacional countered with a 25-meter howitzer from Caballerowhich took Solís slightly ahead and which meant the tie at one for the visit.
Cristal began to push, with more heart than ideas. And she also began to win some aerial balls. And so in the 67th minute Ávila again gave the sky-blues the advantage with a header into the net that Espínola could not clear.
With this goal, Cristal went up, pushing Nacional against his goal. And in the 74th minute, after a series of rebounds and a save from Espínola to Brener at point-blank range, center-back Ignacio made it 3-1 with a pass into the net, bringing the series even.
From that moment Nacional fell apart, and the scores from Lora and Corozo arrived, which sentenced the series.
During the first half of March, Cristal will face the winner of the tie between the Argentine Huracán and the Uruguayan Boston River.
