Barcelona SC succumbed to the possession of the ball applied by Montevideo City Torque in the duel for the Copa Libertadores, highlights Uruguayan media

It was a close match between Montevideo City Torque and Barcelona Sporting Club at the opening of the 2022 Copa Libertadores, according to the Uruguayan press. The product of this rude clash was a draw 1 at the mythical Centenario stadium in the Charrúa capital.

Gonzalo Mastriani, gunner for the bullfighters, opened the scoring after 7 minutes; and the attacker Joaquín Zeballos, 25 years old, put the tie for the citizens (64 minutes).

Ovation, the daily sports section The countrycommented: “They were two very different times, because in the first the Citizens were uncomfortable with the procedure, the pressure from Barcelona and the ineffectiveness of the passes, but in the complement those led by DT Román Cuello gained meters, positioned themselves better, they were more pungent and gave a greater value to the possession that they had already had in the first period”.

“City Torque went deeper and as the minutes went by it made things more difficult for Barcelona, ​​who dedicated themselves to defending the advantage they had. Until at 64 minutes, after a cross from Agustín Peña, José Álvarez (who is playing as a winger this season before Andrew Teuten left) took a cross shot that left doubts as to whether Sebastián Guerrero was touched by the center of the area. They both shouted it and the whole Citizen world shouted it, ”he added.

the website The Daily he underlined: “The Ecuadorians proposed a direct response game: recover and counterattack whenever they could. And that way they had a couple of offensive possibilities to reach Juan Tinaglini’s goal”.

“After having achieved the initial difference (with Mastriani, 7 min.) the visiting team fell back a bit, perhaps due to Torque’s command of the ball, and his vain attempts to reach the Ecuadorian goal. The control of the ball by the Montevideo team was extended over time, but it failed to generate deep actions with the neat set-up of its game”.

He added: “The celestial cast could not make a difference, nor could the Ecuadorians who made a couple of offensive changes, and even generated situations that took the controversy to other corners, such as a non-existent penalty against the battering ram Carlos Garcés (from Barcelona)”.

The revenge for the Libertadores is scheduled for next Tuesday at the Monumental stadium, owned by the canaries.

The winner of the key will face the Peruvian Universitario de Deportes in the second stage of the Libertadores, playing home in the first leg scheduled for February 23. (D)