The anomaly in which Chilean football lives subtracted drama from an always hot match to which the Colocolinos arrived as favorites: the University of Chile is still itinerant, without its own stadium to summon its fans and under enormous restrictions due to the violence of these same.
A circumstance that made the biggest football clash in the country had to be played in the central city of Talca, more than three hours away by road from the capital and with only seven thousand seats reserved for the fans of the U, who acted as a local, and without invited bars albas.
Without the encouragement of the fans, the match was put in the face very soon for the locals, with the victory as an urgency. Or so the fans thought when three minutes later referee Piero Maza pointed to an early penalty in favor of the Blues by the hand of Esteban Pavez in the area that seemed involuntary.
But Cristian Palacios wanted to adjust too much on the frame defended by Chilean international Bryan Cortés and the ball was deflected after touching the outside of the post.
The error did not break down the locals, who remained stronger and better positioned until in the 22nd a penetration in the area of Martín Lucero concluded with a clear foul by Navarrete that was sanctioned by the judge after being warned from the stands by the VAR and reviewing the play on the monitor.
The Argentine striker did not waste the gift and beat Campos with a missile well adjusted to the stick.
The match then entered an odd, with Colo Colo positioned but without fluidity, which was noticed the loss of magic in the area of creation, and a willful U, more coarse, always looking for its captain, almost a shipwreck in attack.
But Ronnie Fernandez needs little to score. He has a fateful season as the star of a team that does not finish recovering and the first clear he had put the tables on the scoreboard in the 34th minute with a goal mark of the house, at half-time after a great movement inside the area.
Thus the break was reached after an even first half, in which the distances that exist today both in the game and in the classification were barely seen.
A different episode from the second half, in which the Cacique dominated, was better, managed the physical effort better and showed why he is the intractable leader in Chile.
First Leonardo Gil, in the 61st, in a choral play of Colo Colo inside the rival area that evidenced the defensive fragility of the U and then Martín Lucero, after a great header in the free area of mark put land and left the University of Chile in a very complicated situation.
Just three points from relegation -today antofagasta marks it- and with a hard calendar in sight: Unión Española, which fights with Colo Colo and Curicó Unido -another of those above- before facing the Catholic University in the university derby that will serve to reopen the national stadium, closed by the reform for the 2023 Pan American Games.
Colo Colo, on the other hand, remains leader, with six points ahead of Núblense, second, seven over Curicó Unido and nine over Palestino, while Unión Española, which has deflated after the winter break, is fifth, with one less game.
Universidad de Chile marches twelfth, six points behind Antofagasta and eight behind Coquimbo Unido, the two teams now in relegation positions.
Video via YouTube: TNT Sports Chile
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