Hard work

Areas

During the first half there were two very difficult actions for the referee: in the first one, Inter was attacking and when Alayes tried to cut the action, the ball hit one of his arms. He had his arms separated from his body, but Larrionda didn´t see it as intentional (I think he decided very well here). In the other controversy, an action where Estudiantes had scored was invalidated for an off-side.. Boselli, the one who kicked the ball, was in a legal position, but next to him there were two off-side players, and assistant Fandiño considered they were participating in the action and, obviously, he flagged. This one was a doubtful situation because the one who mattered wasn´t off-side, but the others were not in a typical passive position. After the match ended, Estudiantes complained a lot because of this invalidated goal.

Booking and the rest

Larrionda, in general, booked very correctly. All his cards were well-shown, but he should have booked even more than what he did, because there were some hard fouls where he decided just to caution. He showed 3 direct red, to Braña and Boselli (Estudiantes) for agressive actions, and to an Inter substitute for protesting. He should have showed another red card, after a very violent foul against Iberbia by an Inter player, but he didn´t. The referee tried to make the game flow, and showed himself always in control. If this final was so exciting, it was, in part, because Larrionda knew how to referee it. This one wasn´t a brilliant performance, but a correct one. Once again, Larrionda passed another important test.

Champions

Of course, having won 1-0 in the previous match, Inter is the new champion of the Copa Sudamericana (South American Cup), 2008.