With Cueva and Andrade, the duo that doesn’t work, and Zambrano as the savior: the UnoxUno of the Alianza triumph that puts him within range in the Opening

Both ahead of Josepmir Ballon. And as before the Trujillos, the plan clearly did not work. The Peruvian and the Colombian, perhaps the two men with the best footing in the blue and white team, fail to understand each other on the field, it even seems that they are getting in each other’s way.

The intention -we assume- of Chicho is to give his team more play by bringing together two creators. But the duo has not worked so far. And it is not that they have not been sought: According to Opta, Cueva is the player to whom Andrade gave the most passes (8). Although the problem is in the area of ​​influence: five were in their own half. The Peruvian tried to look for Sabbag more (4 passes) looking to break lines but it didn’t work either: the 9th had a weak game. In fact, the three mentioned were changed in the 60th minute, when the match was 1-0 in favor of Municipal.

Understanding that Salas’s idea is to film Cueva, and that there is no football argument to remove Andrade from the starting eleven, the sacrificed is josephmir ballon. Without jesus castillo As his companion, the captain was in charge of pressing Municipal’s exit and leaving a gap in the middle that no one knew how to cover. And, of course, each attack by the visitors created a goal threat, something that they did not know how to take advantage of in the first half, as happened to Vallejo.

If Municipal did not go to rest with the score in his favor, it is solely and exclusively because of a man who seems to have the superpower of flying: frank saravia. The goalkeeper was once again the figure of the Intimates in the first 45 minutes of the match, almost heroically saving some impossible shots. But let the goalkeeper stand out, he talks about the bad defensive work of the team.

Zambrano, the savior of a defense with many doubts

Carlos Zambrano he was villain and hero. He reversed the classic soccer story of the guy who first touches heaven on a hit and then falls to hell on a miss. The ‘León’ made a mistake at the start and left the ball to Christopher Olivares to score a great goal and end the 910-minute streak without conceding a goal in Matute from Alianza Lima. The last team that had scored against the Victorians in their fort was precisely Municipal, on October 10, 2022, and the match also ended in victory for the locals.

But Zambrano recovered and rounded off another night with good performance with a double header, both after a prior pivot from a teammate. First was Yordy Vilchez, regular game; and then Hernan Boats, who at the time of the header was offside so the goal had to be cancelled. So much that there is talk of the arrival of the VAR, a new controversy to cry out for technology…

Gino Peruzzi and Ricardo Lagos they completed the defensive back with an average game. They closed their bands well and went on the attack whenever they could. Peruzzi, on the right, is the one who reaches the bottom line the most to get the center. Lagos, on the left, tends to get more in the middle as an inside midfielder to give Bryan Reyna the whole band.

Reyna and Zanelatto: unstoppable

Ángel Comizzo proposed a defensive game in which they tried to corner Bryan Reina with two or three men. Rotce Aguilar, Municipal’s right-back, was almost never alone to face the unbalanced blue and white left winger. He always had support behind. But even so, the aliancista was unstoppable.

In the other side, Franco Zanelatto did the same. In a good duel with Jair Céspedes, the attacker won the line several times, although he did not finish the plays well. As a virtue, Franco knows how to step on the area making diagonals from the right to the middle. On two occasions he was about to score a goal for his team.

The changes worked

Sometimes doing the logical thing is what costs the most. And Chicho Salas did it. Even more so having the courage to bring out three figures like Cueva, Andrade and Sabbag, that although it is true they were playing badly, they are players who could solve problems. And they feel they can do it themselves, so they usually don’t want to leave the field in adverse situations. However, the technician decided to remove them and put Castle, Lavandeira and Boats.

And the changes paid off almost instantly. The three entered at minute 60 and a few seconds later the tie came. laundry He took a corner from the right that was pivoted by Vilchez and ended with a goal from Zambrano. two minutes later, Castle caused the expulsion of defender Williams Guzmán that left Municipal with ten men and no chance to fight the match.

And when the meeting was ending, Boats headed a cross from Lagos to leave it to Zambrano, who scored his first brace with the Alianza Lima shirt (his first goals in Peruvian football as well) and sealed the 2-1 final that left the intimate squad as absolute leader of the Apertura with eight points ahead of Universitario de Deportes.

A scenario that could occur if it is taken into account that the creams will play without four starters.