Independiente were beating Lanús with one more player, but Sand appeared and equalized on the hour

Indio Solari sang at the intermission, through the giant screen: “Hell is lovely.” The red lights were dazzling. And AC/DC invited rock and roll with Highway to Hell. He won and liked Independiente. And he gave to dance. However, he went off the pace in the second half, despite having a man to spare. AND their fans went up in flames for that penalty Hernán Mastrángelo charged through VAR e Pepper Sand, a stainless gentleman of four decades, finished wisely.

How did Independiente go from that good first half to this draw with a taste of defeat? Of the conviction, attitude and intensity he had in the first forty-five minutes there is nothing left. He was fearful in the final stage. He could never dominate Lanús, who showed the personality he always sought, despite the expulsion of Luciano Boggio.

In a 4-4-2 in which the positions of their wing-backs rotated, Braian Martínez on the left and Nicolás Vallejo on the right, Independiente were superior in the first chapter of the evening. Ricardo Zielinski noted that the garnet Achilles’ heel could be in Juan José Cáceres’ sector, behind Pedro De La Vega. And that was how danger ran deep with Ayrton Costa.

The goal, in fact, came from the left. It was for pressure and a ball that he lost peppo. Martínez was quick to clear out the winger and Sergio Ortiz cleared his mark and rattled from mid-range. Lucas Acosta did the opposite of what the goalkeeper manuals indicate: he rebounded too short and forward. And Martín Cauteruccio, who has the nose for a scorer, pushed her mercilessly.

He won quite independently. He recovered quickly and forced the mistakes of Lanús, who only got on with the ball at rest. Yes, whatever advantage Red could get up front was jeopardized as the visitors stepped up with centres. Boggio is a good performer and centre-backs plus Leandro Díaz were menacing.

He had two very clear Lanús. A play that Díaz himself made, but his low cross was met by a providential closing from Luciano Gómez, just as Franco Orozco was licking his lips. The other was from a corner by the Uruguayan that Felipe Aguilar won in the sky and Tomás Belmonte failed to connect in front of goal.

There were excellent movements by Cauterucciobeyond the target. While a good finisher, he bounced back to connect and generated good feedback with flyers. Even if the best, it is said, was produced outdoors. Especially with the Martínez-Costa tandem.

And Acosta, architect of Independiente’s goal, begins to redeem himself with some saves. Cordovano made three, one at Cauteruccio di sotto; two to Matías Giménez, who made an effort in the fight and in deselecting, but was not accurate in finishing.

Lanús came out determined to seek an equalizer in the complement. However, on the first play he trampled the area, he was down by one. There was light contact between Martín Sarrafiore and Boggio, but the Uruguayan exaggerated the crash. Hernán Mastrángelo was rigorous. He considered it a simulation, showed him a second yellow card and sent him off.

The party had to ask for Independiente. However, that superiority in numbers was not reflected on the playing field. Martínez and Vallejo began to run out of fuel on the wings of both return and Giménez, beyond its ability to generate its own spaces, always defined poorly.

With a lot of determination, Lanús took the ball in hand. And Red began to retreat dangerously. Frank Kudelka moved the bench. Matías Esquivel and Julián Fernández came on, De La Vega jumped to left field. Even so, he only cared about centers that found no offensive responses.

Zielinski moved to wingers. Mauricio Cuero and Baltazar Barcia entered. And then, he inserted a defender (Edgar Elizalde) for a striker (Giménez). Until the long ball arrived, Lema won from above, Belmonte finished, Gómez dived like an archer and from the deflection in his arms the ball hit the post.

Mastrángelo did not see him on the pitch. He just scored the penalty when he checked the monitor. And Sand, who had entered just before, tied him up. It was a reward for that team which, despite being decimated, did not lower its arms. It was a punishment for Independiente, who ran out of music in the plugin.

The summary of the game