August 14, 2024, 7:55 PM
August 14, 2024, 7:55 PM
The Strongest received a hard blow in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores and was on the verge of elimination. On Wednesday night, they lost their visit to Peñarol of Uruguay by 4-0, in a match played at the Campeón del Siglo stadium, in the city of Montevideo.
Barely the first minute of play had passed and Tigre was in for a tremendous scare. A cross ball inside the area was reached by Leonardo Fernandez, who made a kind of cross and shot at goal at the same time, but Maximiliano Caire appeared to clear it almost on the goal line, when other players from the home team were lurking.
Peñarol showed superiority from the opening whistle and it was no surprise that they opened the scoring early. Fernández (8′) received a back pass inside the area and with the inside of his left boot he placed the ball at will to beat goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra. This time Caire did not arrive in time, although he did try to stop the play.
The Uruguayan team managed to increase the difference in the first quarter of an hour of play, in a play in which Maximiliano Silvera (15′) connected with a right foota long cross that no defender reached and goalkeeper Viscarra was left paying.
The Strongest was easy prey for the Carbonero teamwhich did not give goalkeeper Washington Aguerre any work to do and the Uruguayan team took full advantage of this and continued scoring.
The local team’s engine, Fernández, put a deep ball in from midfield for Jaime Báez (35′), in his debut with the Carbonero jerseyscored the third. It was already a rout and Achumani’s men showed no signs of putting up any resistance.
Only four minutes passed and Báez scored again after a pass from Fernándeza repeated formula, but the goal was disallowed due to the offside of the goal scorer.
The play was reviewed by the VAR and confirmed the annulment by Brazilian referee Claus Raphael at the request of his linesman.
Fortunately for Tigre, the first half ended and the start of the second half was different because Peñarol slowed down, which allowed The Strongest to play a little more calmly, although they were forced to score a goal to play the rematch with the tie open, as was their objective.
It was a given that his coach Ismael Rescalvo would not be on the bench In this match, because he traveled to the United States to be present at the birth of his son, so his brother Juan, directed the atigrados.
The Uruguayans began to step on the accelerator little by little and without doing much they reached 4-0, through Facundo Batista (71′), who took advantage of a misunderstanding in the Bolivian defense, after a cross, to send the ball into the net.
It was striking that, for almost the entire match, the team from La Paz did not take a single shot directly at Washington Aguerre’s goal, who was just another spectator in this clash. Sebastián Guerrero, who made his debut for the team from La Paz, was the only one who took a shot with some danger, which went close to the left post of the local goal, in the 89th minute.
The Uruguayan representative won fairly this duel and could have even won by a greater margin.
The return match will be played next Wednesday, August 21, at 18:00, at the Hernando Siles stadium in La Paz. El Tigre must win by five or more goals to qualify directly for the quarterfinals; if they do so by four, penalties will be taken. Any other result will allow Peñarol to advance to the next round.
