The great game that opened the 12th round of the Professional Football League Cup and that ended with a 2-2 draw between Lanús and Unión had a hot epilogue at the Néstor Díaz Pérez stadium: Ricardo Zielinski and Cristian González, the coaches of Both teams argued heatedly, first on the field and then in the tunnel that leads to the
Fortaleza
locker rooms , and the soccer players from both teams staged an attempted skirmish on the path to the locker room.
The duel, in which the local team tried to reach the top of group B and the visiting team tried to get into the playoffs, was a roller coaster of emotions: Tatengue
took
a two-goal lead before the half time was reached hour of play, but
Granate
scored just before the break and ended up equalizing in added time.
Precisely in the last segment of the match the temperature rose more than recommended, based on complaints from the players and members of the Lanús coaching staff about the delays in the game. At 43 minutes into the match, Claudio Corvalán fell on the grass, claiming that a cramp in his right leg prevented him from standing.
That interruption, which was not the first in the game due to some difficulty on the part of the Santa Fe team's players, particularly irritated Zielinski, who understood that the Unión captain was simulating. The DT approached the visiting bank to complain to Cristian González for that situation. The two coaches argued on the grass and exchanged some words that would later trigger the second chapter of their counterpoint.
AGONIC GOAL FROM LANÚS! Tremendous volley by Álvarez for the 2-2 against Unión in the #CopaDeLaLiga.
📺 #ESPN pic.twitter.com/AkJIMNxOVJ
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) March 28, 2024
In the third of the six minutes that referee Fernando Echenique had added and when it seemed that Unión would take three very valuable points for their search for a place in the League Cup playoffs, Lanús reached equality with a volley from Favio Álvarez from the crescent At that time, some
Tatengue
players
claimed an alleged infraction against Jerónimo Domina at the beginning of the maneuver.
HOT FINAL IN LA FORTALEZA: Lanús reached an agonizing 2-2 draw against Unión on matchday 12 of Zone B of the #CopaDeLaLiga.
📺 #ESPN pic.twitter.com/HIOWzBS1aV
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) March 28, 2024
After the final whistle, Echenique was surrounded by Unión players and assistants, while Ricardo Zielinski and Cristian González argued towards the locker room after the visiting coach refused to greet his colleague. Soccer players from both teams also ended up converging in the tunnel, exchanging complaints, insults and pushing. After a few seconds of tension, tempers finally calmed down.
In the press conferences after the game, the most visible protagonists of the night's dispute made reference to what happened a few minutes before. “
I was bad with Kily first because I told him something about the weather
. But nothing happened,” Zielinski tried to lower the decibels, who also valued the point saved by his men: “We didn't deserve to lose, we spent everything in the game and in two quite strange plays they converted us. "It was going to be an injustice if we left with an adverse result."
HOT WEATHER ON THE WAY TO THE LOCKER ROOM: spicy final between Lanús and Unión for the #CopaDeLaLiga.
📺 #ESPN pic.twitter.com/w1t9VZ7Vkv
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) March 28, 2024
Notoriously angry, González left the idea of a plot to harm his team floating in the air. “Union is going to fight until the end, against everything and anyone. That's my imprint. Beyond being called a smoker and whatever, my team is moving forward. "Today he showed it again here," said the driver of the Santa Fe team, who will finish this 12th round outside of the qualifying positions for the next stage of the contest.