A big battle

Bad start

From the beginning it was clear that this one wasn´t going to be an easy night for the referee team. Players seemed determined to do everything in order to qualify, and we had at least 4 hard faults during first 10 minutes. The referee made the first big mistake, invalidating a legal goal by Abreu because of an off-side.

17 cards

Yes. You´ve read well. During the chaotic game, Pezzotta showed seventeen cards (14 yellow and 3 red, one direct). This shows that the game was very violent, and also that the referee could not stop that properly. (The game reminded me that Portugal v. Netherlands during World Cup 2006, refereed by Valentin Ivanov). Some decisions by Pezzotta were OK: Rivero red card after a double-yellow; Bottinelli direct red after intentionally hitting Falcao with his elbow, which also meant a penalty for River. But here we had something more similar to a battle than to a football game, and when this happens it´s up to the players but also to the referee. Unfortunately, Pezzotta couldn´t manage this and his assistants didn´t help him properly.

Incredible ending

This game looked like a movie not only because of the 17 cards. When Abreu put the 2-0 after the penalty, River was winning and had 2 more men. We were waiting for the 3rd, 4th or 5th goal, but not. San Lorenzo took control of the ball, attacked, made the 1st and then , they put the 2-2. Incredible but real. In Monumental, 50.000 River fans couldn´t believe what they were seeing. And 5.000 San Lorenzo fans exploted with Pezzotta´s final whistling. For everybody, this night won´t be easily forgotten.