Olympia closes the season with a smile after thrashing 1-3 to his traditional rival, Cerro Porteño, and keep the first edition of the Paraguayan Super Cup. The Dean stayed with the Paraguayan soccer classic -in a match played at the Defensores del Chaco stadium with 100% capacity- thanks to his offensive forcefulness and, in this way, he closed a difficult season in a good way as he had a very bad Closing Tournament.
The game began with heated spirits since Cerro Porteño’s goalkeeper, Brazilian Jean Fernandes, was sent off before the game started because he made provocative gestures towards the Olympia fans. As it was before starting, Cerro Porteño also played with 11 footballers and in his place was under the sticks the Uruguayan Rodrigo Muñoz.
Although Cerro Porteño arrived with several casualties, being the current champion of the Clausura Tournament and having a good season, he arrived as the favorite. In fact, at the best moment of the Cyclone in the duel came Olimpia’s first goal, through the experienced Roque Santa Cruz, who did not hesitate and scored after a rebound. From the Dean’s goal, Cerro Porteño took control of the ball and tried by all means to equalize the score. However, the lack of the last pass and the little offensive force were lethal.
Midway through the second half, Olimpia’s second goal came with a header from Richard Ortiz, after a corner kick in the 67th minute, to begin the match. And, as if this were not enough, in the 79th minute the experienced Uruguayan defender and Olympia idol Alejandro Silva scored the third penalty goal to awaken the joy of the fans. In 93 Fabián Franco discounted for Cerro Porteño but it was of little use because it was too late to think about an epic comeback.
In this way, Olimpia, which had a Clausura for oblivion in which it was in eighth position – just one point above the last – closed a good season in which it won the Paraguayan Cup and the country’s first Super Cup, and nothing less than before his traditional adversary.
Roque Santa Cruz leaves the team
The veteran Paraguayan forward Roque Santa Cruz announced this Sunday, after winning the Super Cup with Olimpia, that He leaves the Asuncion team, although he does not retire from football. “I’ll keep playing, but this was my last match in olympia. I have already decided. There are cycles that end. Today has ended one for me, “said the 40-year-old former Paraguayan international, in statements to Tigo Sports after the match that Olimpia beat their traditional rival, Cerro Porteño, 1-3. Without wanting to argue any reason for his farewell to the ‘Dean’, Santa Cruz said: “What happens inside the club, stays inside. I’m not going to air anything. The situation is difficult. They are cycles that end. I am very proud of this ending. It is nobody’s fault. I am very grateful to God for all that he has given me. “
The player, with a successful career at Bayern Munich, where in addition to local tournaments, he won a Champions League and an Intercontinental Cup in 2001, returned to Olimpia in 2016, from which he left in 1999 to face in Europe most of his life. professional. The forward, who scored the first goal of the final played this Sunday, played eight seasons for the German team (1999-2007), from which he left for England, where he played four seasons between Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City. In 2011 he ended up at Betis, where he played for a year, before moving to Malaga, also Spanish (2012-2014). In addition, in the 2015-2016 campaign he wore the Mexican Cruz Azul shirt.
Santa Cruz leaves the ‘Dean’ after 235 games, 10 titles achieved in his two stages at the club and as the second highest scorer in history, with 91 goals, behind Mauro Caballero.
