05/08/2024 16:36hs. Updated on 05/08/2024 20:30hs.
They both arrived battered. Gym for the tough defeat suffered in the classic against Estudiantes, and Rosario Central for the unexpected resignation of Miguel Ángel Russo, who decided to end his fifth cycle in the club less than a week before playing against Newell’s. In that shared anguish, without being the best of shows, Canalla took a tremendous victory from El Bosque, won again as a visitor, which was key in the run-up to the classic.
For Marcelo Méndez, Lobo’s coach, there was an obligation to radically change the image he left in the classic, now in front of his fans. The defeat against Pincha, added to the absences of Insfrán, De Blasis and Abaldo, caused the coach to make a U-turn and change the formation to a 5-3-2. Juan Cortazzo got into the back line and Zalazar moved to the right side of the attack. Precisely on the wings, with the tandem Colazo-Domínguez and Pintado-Zalazar, Lobo began to bother a Central that, despite the weight of its names, is a totally different team every time it leaves Arroyito.
The top player was undoubtedly the Canalla number 1, Jorge Braun. Given the spaces that were constantly created in the middle of the field, the two had clear chances to make it 1-0. Fatura flew all night and saved two tremendous shots from Benja Domínguez, which went into the corner.
Campaz, from Rosario Central, before Gimnasia.
Matías Ledesma, who had the difficult task of replacing Insfrán after he was sent off in the classic, blocked a great header from Quintana and, on the rebound, reacted better when Mallo came to push it in the six-yard box. However, towards the end of the match, he missed a weak shot from O’Connor that seemed easy to contain and that, finally, led to Central’s victory.
Four days before the classic, Central still does not have a clear candidate to replace Russo, so it would not be crazy for Matías Lequi to continue as interim.
To create more anger in Gimnasia: in the second half Juan Esquivel came on, who was sent off five minutes in with a second yellow card by referee Sebastián Zunino. After the match, Leonardo Morales, in his self-criticism, pointed out that Central’s goal came from a loose ball in an area where dribbling should not have been allowed. He was referring to Cortazzo…
The video of the match
Rosario Central –
Central’s victory over Gimnasia
Rosario Central against Gimnasia in La Plata.
