The Sports Pereira won its first Colombian league title this Wednesday, in 78 years of history, by beating 4-3 on penalties against Deportivo Independiente Medellin (DIM), with whom they drew 0-0 in the second leg of the Clausura Tournament final.
The great figure of the title was the goalkeeper Harlen ‘Chipi Chipi’ Castillo, who saved two penalties from the Powerful and made the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium celebrate, full of fans who celebrated for the first time a title for the team of his loves, led by Alejandro Restrepo.
The game was defined from the 12 steps after neither of the two teams managed to break the zero that would have unbalanced the 1-1 first leg.
For Pereira, Leonardo Castro, Maicol Medina, Juan Pablo Zuluaga and Léider Berrío scored, who scored the final penalty. The only one who failed was the center-back Carlos Ramírez.
While for the DIM José Hernández, Felipe Pardo and Christian Marrugo were right and Andrés Cadavid and Adrián Arregui missed, whose shots were masterfully saved by goalkeeper Castillo.
The hosts showed off their locality in the first minutes, in which with a lot of pressure they caused damage from the sides with the mobility of Léider Berrío and Brayan León, who brought the team closer to Mosquera Marmolejo’s goal.
The Pereiran team was led on the field by midfielder Jhonny Vásquez, who also became a stopper that diminished the long shots of Argentine Adrián Arregui and Andrés Ricaurte.
However, the Powerful resisted the local dominance with the brilliant work of the center-backs Víctor Moreno and Andrés Cadavid, who bothered the striker Leonardo Castro throughout the first half.
In the complementary stage, the DIM equalized the charges and had its first clear opportunity at 50 in a free kick from the center-back Andrés Cadavid that required the goalkeeper Castillo, who had to stretch to prevent the ball from slipping into his goal.
Bryal León (Pereira) disputes the ball with Víctor Moreno
However, Pereira’s clearest came in this context in a counterattack in which Mosquera saved two shots, one from León and the other from Castro, which drowned out the cry for a goal from the crowd that accompanied the Matecaña club at the Hernán stadium. Ramirez Villegas.
As the minutes passed, the Powerful made the decision to withdraw and Pereira attacked wherever he could, led by a Vásquez who pushed his team towards Mosquera’s goal.
However, the DIM maintained order and prevented Restrepo’s team from constantly reaching their goal with danger. In the end, the goal did not come and everything was decided on penalties, in which Pereira won the long-awaited title.
With this victory, which also has as one of the main protagonists the scorer Leonardo Castro who was the tournament’s top scorer with 15 goals, Pereira will play the Copa Libertadores for the first time in 2023.
DATA SHEET
0 – Deportivo Pereira: Harlen Castillo; Jherson Mosquera, Andrés Correa, Carlos Ramírez; Juan Pablo Zuluaga, Jhonny Vásquez (m.80, Maicol Medina), Yílmar Velásquez (m.91, Harlin Suárez), Jimer Fory; Léider Berrío, Brayan León, and Leonardo Castro
Coach: Alejandro Restrepo
0 – DIM: Andrés Mosquera; Juan Guillermo Arboleda, Victor Moreno, Andrés Cadavid, Yulián Gómez; Adrián Arregui, Andrés Ricaurte (m.64, Daniel Torres), Felipe Pardo, Vladimir Hernández (m.58, Christian Marrugo); Luciano Pons and Diber Cambindo (m.84, José Hernández)
Coach: David Gonzalez
Referee: Carlos Ortega. He admonished Cambindo, Zuluaga, Gómez, Vásquez, Correa, Arregui, Marrugo and Castro
Incidents: Second leg of the final of the Colombian league played at the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium, in Pereira
