Article courtesy of Colo Futbol

Week 9 of the Colombian Championship took place this weekend and here’s just a quick review of an exciting few days in Liga Postobon…

• Millonarios leapfrog Sante Fe
• Itagui charge to the top

• Once Caldas’ Edwards Jimenez is sent off after just five minutes!!!!

• Nacional are STILL undefeated
• and much, much more

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Saturday 6th April

Atlético Huila 2 (Perez 7, Canga 86)

Deportivo Tolima 2 (Campaz 42, Merino 67)

Peruvian midfielder Roberto Merino and Mike Campaz thought they had clinched the three points for Tolima before a late Cristian Cangá strike saved Huila. Tolima were not helped by the 76th minute explosion of Belalcáza Breiner.

HIGHLIGHTS

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Boyacá Chico 0

Patriotas Boyacá 0

Not an encouraging result for clubs as the Boyaca derby failed to deliver to it’s hype. The match, which ended goal-less failed to provide many chances and the midfield battle seemed to be never ending. Los Ajedrezados are now on ten points and sit mid-table as Patriotas are still without a win and are rock bottom.

HIGHLIGHTS

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Deportivo Pasto 1 (Palacios 53)

Deportivo Cali 2 (Perez 13, Perea 28)

Leonel Alvarez’s Cali are now undefeated in eleven games now as they cruised past Deportivo Pasto 2-1 on Saturday evening. Cali went ahead by two goals due to defensive errors from Pasto, the scorers were Andrea Perez and Brayan Perea. Pasto tried to fight back in the second half but defender Nicolas Palacios’s goal in the 53rd minute had no effect to the outcome. Pasto stay on 17 points joint top with Millos, Santa Fe and Itagui. Cali climb to joint fifth on fifteen points breathing down the leaders necks.

HIGHLIGHTS

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Sante Fe 1 (Molina 68)

Millonarios 3 (Rentaria 38, 57, Candelo 55)

Millonarios crushed their inter-city rivals, Santa Fe, in one of the highlight matches of the weekend. The highly anticipated match known as the Capital Classic featured a strong Millonarios team that sat only a win behind Santa Fe, who were top of the standings. After an evenly played start, Millos took a 1-0 lead before the half, following a goal by their talented forward, Wason Renteria. A 3-0 lead quickly ensued early in the second half after veteran midfielder Mayer Candelo reached a career milestone with the 100th goal of his career. The goal came after a quick pass from the recently added forward Fredy Montero, who spends most of the year playing soccer in the United States, which set him up for an easy strike. Two minutes later, Renteria got his second goal. Santa Fe managed to salvage some pride though, with Argentine midfielder Jorge Emanuel Molina scoring a consolation. Millonarios are now one of four teams tied for first place at 17 points and they will play Santa Fe again at home this coming weekend.

HIGHLIGHTS

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Sunday 7th April

Medellín 0

Atlético Nacional 0

Another hotly contested classic took place in Colombia’s second largest city of Medellin between Nacional and Medellín. Tensions between these two teams often run high and, as a result, extra security measures were taken in order to establish a relatively safe environment both inside and outside the stadium. Unfortunately it was somewhat of an anticlimax as the match resulted in a scoreless draw and thankfully no real security issues. Nacional played a stronger first half while Medellin stepped up in the second and prevented Nacional’s veteran striker Juan Pablo Angel from becoming a threat. Nacional remains undefeated this season but has now drawn six times and won three.  They currently sit on 15 points, two points behind the four joint leaders at the top.

HIGHLIGHTS

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Alianza Petrolera 0

La Equidad 0

Petrolera will be wondering how they did not leave the Estadio Santiago de las Atalayas will all three points after dominating the game throughout against 12th placed Equidad. Failing to score with many chances created, Petrolera find themselves third bottom so far. The energy and the pressing that the home team showed in this match maybe suggests that they will not be lingering down the bottom for much longer.

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Envigado 1 (Franco 53)

Itagüí 2 (Cortes 36, 66)

Itagüí bounced back from last weeks defeat at home to Cali with a 2-1 away win at middle of the pack Envigado to top the table, although they have played one more game than other teams on 17 points. Colombia’s national team coach Jose Pekerman was present watching a host of players for his upcoming squads. Itagüí took the lead on 36 minutes with Victor Cortes finishing off in style with an amazing curling effort  from outside the box. Envigado hit back after the break, Frank Fabra hit the gas down the left wing and beat two men and crossed a lovely ball over for Yuberney Franco, who was faster to the ball than goalkeeper Julián Mesa to head home. But it was Cortes again that made sure of the win in the 66th minute with a header of his own.

HIGHLIGHTS

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Cúcuta Deportivo 1 (Figoli 15)

Junior 2 (Moreno 50, 71)

Dayro Moreno was the two-goal hero on Sunday evening for Junior de Barranquilla clawing back 2-1 win after being down 1-0 at half time away to Cúcuta in a game where Junior should have really added more goals to their tally. Junior was using the long ball to speedy strikers technique on Cúcuta’s high defensive line and was finding many holes in the first half with Edinson Toloza and Moreno missing many one-on-ones with ‘keeper Luis Estacio. Junior’s luck did seem to be out, especially on 15th minutes when they found themselves a goal down. It was a stunning effort from Mateo Figoli than gave Sebastien Viera no chance in goal. Moreno got his first and the equaliser on 50 minutes with strike partner Toloza providing the assist. And Moreno grabbed the headlines and the win, twenty minutes from time. Toloza again using his pace to burst past defenders and crossing in for Moreno to head a looping header past Estacio. Junior finally have their season back on track after a disappointing start so far, as this was just their second win, they sit in 14th place.

HIGHLIGHTS

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Monday 8th April

Once Caldas 1 (Arias 85)

Deportes Quindio 2 (Gonzalez 32, Tesillo 90)

Deportes Quindio pulled off the shock of the weekend with a very late 2-1 away win to ten-man Once Caldas on early Monday morning. Caldas did not start the game off well after striker Edwards Jimenez was given his marching orders for dangerous play after just FIVE minutes gone. Quindio went in front with a Alfredo Gonzalez goal on 32 minutes with a curling effort from the edge of the box. Once Caldas failed to get a hold of the game and late on it looked like Quindio had wrapped the game off but it was a huge let off for the home side. Joao Rodríguez, on loan from Chelsea found himself through on goal and with goalkeeper José Fernando Cuadrado beaten, he placed his shot wide. A minute later Caldas got the equaliser. Substitute Cesar Arias had not been on the pitch for more than a minute and he found himself through on goal and did not make the same mistake as Rodríguez. Caldas pressed for a winner, but it was the away team that picked up the points after a horrendous error from Cuadrado. A long range free-kick was swung in and was totally misjudged from the Caldas ‘keeper allowing William Tesillo to get on the end of it for the dramatic winner.

HIGHLIGHTS

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LEAGUE TABLE

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