Neither Millonarios could ensure the fact of being seeded, nor did Boyacá Chicó reform to ratify its classification to the semifinal home runs. The 1-1 draw this Saturday in Tunja is one more step for both in search of those objectives.

Millionaires again appealed to the substitute roster, this time, even the uniform, forced by the colors of Boyacá Chicó, in two shades of blue on the shirt. And the second team had a happy start, demanding a rival that has a lot of work accumulated and that needs to break a losing streak, with only one win in the last nine games.

That initial impulse allowed Millonarios to find the advantage very quickly, after 11 minutes, after a change of front by Nicolás Arévalo that found Luis Andrés Paredes on the edge of the area, ready to finish off with force and cross and win goalkeeper Rogerio Caicedo.

Luis Paredes celebrates his goal against Boyacá Chicó

Photo:

Twitter: @MillosFCOficial

Millos had a quiet game until the end of the first half, when Chicó began to demand it and began to show the reasons why it is one of the best venues in the League and had not lost in its stadium this semester.

That good work by Boyacá Chicó began to expose some flaws that are becoming repetitive in the second unit of Millonarios. One of them, a mirror of what happens in the starting team, which has not been able to find a left-back who gives him full guarantees when Ómar Bertel is not there.

Jorge Arias, the starter in recent games, scores well, but doesn’t come out much. And Samuel Asprilla, the starter in Tunja, has the idea of ​​going to the front, but his back is an invitation to attack. And Chicó the tasty.

Chicó’s partial equalizer came through that area, in a play in which Kevin Londoño took advantage of all the space left by Asprilla: he walked back and they had already taken 10 meters away from him. Venezuelan Ángelo Peña, with a great second half, was ready to receive Londoño’s pass and defeat goalkeeper Juan Moreno.

Boyacá Chicó was emboldened and had his best minutes of the game after the goal, in which he demanded a lot from Millos, guided by Romir Balanta, a player discarded by teams like América and who found his place in the world in Tunja.

It was so much local dominance that Gamero had to move his roster and anticipate the entry of Daniel Giraldo, who led Tunja to erase yellow cards, like Larry Vásquez, and try another winger, Jhoan Hernández, instead of Asprilla.

Chicó’s momentum was not enough to do any damage and Millonarios had a second envoy in which he was even able to score a second goal. Caicedo avoided it by stopping a great header from Fernando Uribe.

In the end, the two teams seemed to settle for a draw. Millonarios did not take advantage of one last opportunity, due to a slap from Henry Plazas to Ramiro Brochero, who had entered in the last minutes. Yuber Quiñones, who had also just entered, bet on power and not location and crashed into the barrier.

In the end, the 1-1 situation leaves Millonarios still as the leader, with 37 points, waiting for what Nacional does in Barrancabermeja on Sunday, and Boyacá Chicó is fifth with 29, very close to qualifying, but waiting for what happens in the rest of the date to see its panorama in the last day.

Jose Orlando Ascencio
sports deputy editor
@josasc

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