Santiago de Chile, Oct 3 (EFE).- With a goal from Argentine Javier Correa at the end of the match, Colo Colo won 1-0 this Thursday in the classic against Universidad Católica, in a match rescheduled for date 24 the Chilean league that was played at the Monumental stadium in Santiago.
With the victory, the albos reduced the distance with the leader Universidad de Chile to four points, which has 55 points, in the first of the three games they had postponed for the Copa Libertadores.
The Crusaders could have tied in a last play in which Alfred Canales scored a shot that was saved by goalkeeper Brayan Cortés, and they finished without scoring to remain with 42 points in third place, which gives access to the preliminary phase of the Libertadores 2025.
With the header in the 86th minute by striker Correa, the ‘Cacique’ achieved a victory in a duel in which they were always closer to winning than their rival, despite the lack of effectiveness in the attack they showed.
For that reason the first half ended goalless, despite the majority dominance of Colo Colo in the first 20 minutes of the match, which had the first goal warning with the white winger Erick Wiemberg, whose shot went close to the right post.
The ‘Cacique’ had scored in the 10th minute, but Argentine striker Javier Correa’s goal was disallowed for offside, drowning out the emotion of the club’s fans who filled the stands in a classic that only had local fans.
The visit had Argentine striker Fernando Zampedri very far from scoring. The top scorer in the championship, with 16 goals, could not score what would have been his 119th goal with the Crusaders shirt, which would leave him as the absolute leader in the club’s history.
The team led by Argentine Jorge Almirón dominated the game and generated up to ten chances in the first half, but between balls crashing into the post and the good performance of goalkeeper Sebastián Pérez with two saves, the albos’ first goal was difficult to achieve. .
Midfielder Carlos Palacios had a shot that hit the left post in the 14th minute, and then captain Esteban Pavez took another over the goal.
Correa had two more, a bicycle kick and another shot, both into the hands of Pérez, who also excelled with two consecutive blocks against shots from Lucas Cepeda and the Paraguayan Guillermo Paiva.
Universidad Católica had barely had an attempt to approach the Colo Colo area, which generated a riskless corner kick at the beginning of the game.
In 45 minutes, the Crusaders had another chance with a shot from Gonzalo Tapia into the hands of goalkeeper Cortés. After the supremacy demonstrated with the dominance of the ball, the white team spent nearly ten minutes without being able to create danger in the visiting area until Palacios had an option by placing a ball in the area to which Paiva did not reach.
Before going to half-time, the ‘Cacique’ had regained pressure on Pérez’s goal and Arturo Vidal, who promised a goal for this classic, had his only attempt with a shot that went over the crossbar.
Colo Colo will now have four important matches: against Audax Italiano on Sunday the 6th, Huachipato on Sunday the 13th, Unión La Calera on Wednesday the 16th and Palestino on Sunday the 20th, to strengthen its objective of fighting for the title with the U of Chile.
María José Rey
