Eleven years later, Vélez is once again in a Copa Libertadores semifinal, where he will face the fearsome Flamengo from Brazil. The cast of Liniers, who qualified for the round of 16 on the last date and with an interim coach (Julio Vaccari), beat Talleres in Córdoba 1-0 on Wednesday night and, with the first leg 3-2, got into the four best in South America.
Logic suggested that Cacique Medina’s men were going to stand up against and deliver the ball to Talleres, but that did not happen, at least during the first few minutes. The visit even came to celebrate as soon as the match started after a great play between Janson and Pratto (post throw-in to the area and Cordoba siesta) that had only one flaw: celebrating before the VAR. The Paraguayan referee Aquino was called by the headset, he went to check and detected a hand by Janson that left everything as it began.
Despite the scare and the extra life that the VAR gave him, Talleres did not react as expected in the first half and the best situations continued to belong to Vélez, with a very lucid Janson. The indomitable Valoyes, the great local football card, was not so much this time with a much more demanding mark from Ortega than the first leg.
The Cordovans needed to wake up and coach Caixinha tried it with a couple of changes at halftime, more because of the weak performances of the outgoing players than because of any new tactical arrangement. And with the speed of the admitted Godoy and the driving of a renewed Garro, the T was getting closer to a Vélez who seemed to hurry in the decision to get back.
But it is clear that Medina sensed something since when his men had deactivated the Cordovan clean and jerk in a very eventful second half (Girotti’s severe injury, various pushes, simulations everywhere and the referee going to VAR), he sent the kid to the field Fernández and the newcomer scored the winning goal from Velez.
The 18-year-old attacker, a hero in the first leg by scoring the 3-2 goal, took his time after receiving a nice pass from Janson, made Herrera pass and finished as if he had 20 seasons of experience on the back. A daring whose courage makes all of Vélez delirious, who returns to reach a semi with in 2011 when Ricardo Gareca’s team could not beat Peñarol from Uruguay and the so-remembered as fateful slip of Santiago Silva occurred in a penalty kick.
