Gimnasia and Sarmiento tied 0-0 at the Juan Carmelo Zerillo stadium in La Plata in a match corresponding to the 18th day of the Professional Football League (LPF) that was not without discussions, especially for a maneuver that had ended with the ball inside the visiting goal three minutes from the end, but that was annulled after the intervention of those in charge of the video assistance referee system (VAR).
In a duel between a team that does not finish standing in the domestic tournament and another that needs points to escape the last positions in the table of averages, the juninense cast was slightly superior in the first period and, without dazzling, had the best chances to break the zero. The clearest was a header from Javier Toledo that was repelled by the right post of the goal defended by Tomás Durso.
In the complement, the team led by Sebastián Romero assumed the prominence that he had not been able to exhibit in the initial chapter, although this did not have a correlate in occasions of risk, beyond the rain of centers that unloaded on the visiting area.
Anyway, the Wolf had the victory in his hands in a maneuver that ended up generating a huge discussion in the Forest. In the 42nd minute and after a cross from the right by Bautista Barros Schelotto, Ivo Mammini deflected the ball in the first post and Felipe Sánchez touched the net.
Nothing seemed to be able to deprive Gimnasia of the shout, but after a long conciliabulum between those responsible for the VAR, referee Ariel Penel annulled the maneuver for an alleged advanced position, apparently of Alan Lescano at the beginning of the maneuver. But the midfielder had received the ball from Antonio Napolitano at the exit of a corner.
In that sense, the regulation is very clear. "There will be no offside infraction if the player receives the ball directly from a corner kick," establishes rule 11, so the maneuver had to be validated. It was not like that and, therefore, the platense team was deprived of victory.
"He (Penel) acknowledged his mistake, but now that's it, let Costiria (sic) take it out of you. We have no choice but to go home with the feeling of anger for not having been able to win the three points. We can no longer do anything but look forward and think about the next game," Sebastian Romero lamented at the post-match press conference.
