Ramón Ángel Díaz smiles
with that famous grimace in these lands.
He's happy.
His son embraces
him Emiliano
, a field assistant for a decade.
The two, led by
Al Hilal
from
Saudi Arabia
, have just given one of the most powerful blows in the history of the
Club World Cup
: they won
3-2
against the colossus
Flamengo from Brazil
and will define the tournament next Saturday, possibly against
Real Madrid
, which this Wednesday faces
Al Ahly
from
Egypt
.
The celebration of Ramón Díaz and his son Emiliano after his team's third goal.
Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Boyers
Ramón also sends a message to the coaches of the Argentine teams that will compete in the Copa Libertadores:
you can beat the Brazilians
.
It's not easy, of course.
Much more: you have to play a perfect game.
But there remains for review this game by Al Hilal, who at times danced with the Rio de Janeiro team.
He won with authority
.
In the Tangier stadium, in Morocco,
Luciano Vietto
was the star player in the semifinal.
For something the former Racing uses the 10.
He was always a footballer with a lot of class, the one born in Balnearia, Córdoba, 29 years ago.
But for one reason or another he never managed to break out, beyond the fact that he played in huge teams like
Atlético Madrid
,
Valencia
,
Sevilla
,
Villarreal
,
Fulham
and
Sporting Lisbon
.
A fact puts the sentence in context: in none of the mentioned clubs he was able to add
50 games
.
He only caught up with them in Racing, where he scored
18 goals in 72 games
.
Vietto broke it playing as a midfielder behind the Nigerian Ighalo.
In the duel last Saturday, for the quarterfinals, the Cordovan had been a substitute against Casablanca of Morocco, although vital in the definition:
he entered and converted his penalty
.
But this afternoon in 2 minutes he warned that he was going to have a great performance: he got into the area at full speed and Mateuzinho brought him down.
The penalty was executed
by Salem Al Dawsari
-the Arab who scored the goal at the angle of Dibu Martínez at the premiere of Qatar 2022- and did not fail.
Al Hilal withdrew with the advantage.
The hierarchy of the Brazilians weighed.
Pedro
, with a cross shot, managed to equalize after a qualification from the Uruguayan
Giorgian de Arrascaeta
.
It seemed that the carioca flood was coming.
But Vietto still had things to say
: he once again entered the area with a dominated ball and Gerson stepped on his heel.
The VAR called and the second warning for the midfielder was added to the penalty.
They were 45 minutes.
Al Dawsari was right again and thus ended the opening stage.
The miracle was possible
.
The second part was a carnival for the Arabs and a suffering for the Brazilians.
He had his well-deserved Vietto award at 25 minutes: he stopped it inside the area and Santos nailed it from the left corner.
A few moments later, Ramón took him out and the man from Cordoba left with a ball under his arm and handing out greetings.
What is said the postcard of a crack.
Although Al Hilal did something wrong:
not thrashing
.
Because
Pedro
found himself with the discount at the end and the last minutes were suffering.
But the classification of the Arabs was an act of justice
.
Al Hilal's blow is similar to that of
Al Ain
when they eliminated
River
in 2018. And the one who achieved it was
Ramón Díaz
, with a stellar Luciano Vietto.
Now
Real Madrid
can appear .
Yes, Ramón's Club World Cup book has a blank page left.
And he will have revenge after that final lost in Japan with River against Juventus in 1996...
look too
"I have good news": this is how they confirmed the rescue of soccer player Christian Atsu, among the rubble after the earthquake in Turkey
Demichelis, first defeat and the Gallardo mirror: from the devastating data to the wink that excites
Demichelis's River reinstates a debate that borders on mathematics: should we play at any cost?
