Leandro Brey, from villain to hero for the Argentine Cup standings: saves four consecutive penalties and enters Boca history

He wasn’t the penalty hero this time Sergio Romerobut the young people Leandro Breywhich has shortened four in a row so that all his companions form a human mountain with him on the ground also ‘Chiquito’ himself, who ran from the reserves bench to greet him and congratulate him after qualifying for the semi-finals of the Argentine Cupmoving to Gymnastics and Fencing La Plata.

Fernando Gago he had made the important decision to leave Romero on the bench, starting against Tigre and a personal friend since the times shared with the Argentina national team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. For Brey and the 22-year-old youth player the new coach got off to a bad start on Lobo’s equalizer. Immediately, on official television, they focused on Romero. But then Brey made up for it all on penalties. Yes, he went from villain to hero.

Brey had played a good game, apart from the failed exit in the Gimnasia goal. It was after a corner closed from the right and it was halfway: they combed it and from behind they put it between De Blasis and Rojo, against.

But Brey’s mistake didn’t affect him and there is a virtue in the goalie. He recovered quickly and continued to make good crosses on a pitch complicated by the rain that fell on the previous one. When it came to penalties, many wondered about Sergio Romero. Gago had no more changes.

And Brey became huge. We will have to check in the archive how many times a goalkeeper has saved 4 out of 5 penalties in a row. The first three, before Rodrigo Castillo, Franco Troyansky and Leonardo Morales, went to his left. The latest, by David Salazar, on the right. Of course they were all well kicked and well saved. A historical fact: he became the Boca goalkeeper who saved the most penalties in shootouts.

“I’m very happy. I want to compliment the group for the effort they made. We didn’t have to go to penalties, but we had the character to prevail. I’m grateful for the opportunity. Now we have to have fun and continue the day’s work.” during the day”said the great character of the violent night of Rosario. And he closed: “Since the morning we started studying the kickers with coach Muñoz, Javi García and Chiquito Romero. This time we were granted it. It’s all studied: we try to refine as much as possible”.

Boca will face Vélez in the semi-final and Gago would have days to work in peace. And he will show up at each of the training sessions with one certainty: Leandro Brey needs to be the starter.