Sporting Cristal respected the house after beating Unión Comercio 3-0 without missing a shot on the second day of the Clausura tournament. The Light Blues returned to the Alberto Gallardo Stadium after more than two months and with a game that had it all.
The visitors, led by Tiago Nunes, showed their dominance on the scoreboard from the 18th minute when Alejandro Hohberg took advantage of a Jhilmar Lora cross to hit the near post and make it 1-0.
The Alto Mayo mighty didn’t have time to process Rim’s goal as the local side extended the lead to 21 minutes through Joao Grimaldo, who sealed the goal after a defensive error in the visit without opponents
However, when everything looked like a party for Sporting Cristal, the controversy settled at the Alberto Gallardo after Yoshimar Yotún was red carded for an elbow on Christian Neyra in the 39th minute. The exclusion of the light blue midfielder took place with the support of VAR.
The Red one. Yoshimar Yotún was sent off for an elbow against Christian Neyra in the first half. Photo: John Reyes/The Republic
Unión Comercio’s numerical advantage continued until 75 minutes when Jhon Álvarez was sent off for a hard foul on Washington Corozo, again with the intervention of the video referee.
The Bajo Pontino team managed to get the win in the 86th minute. The man who scored the last goal of the game was Gianfranco Chávez after he fished in a low Corozo cross inside the box.
With this result, Sporting Cristal climbs into the first box of the Clausura tournament with six points, just like Alianza Lima, but with a better goal difference.
“We’re happy because we won at home. It’s been a long time since we played here at the Gallardo. We had a nice atmosphere so people could leave happy. “What we have left from this semester is nice, hard and we’re already preparing as best we can, we’re trying to improve from game to game,” explained Hohberg after the game.
Likewise, Sporting Cristal reached their tenth consecutive game without defeat in this local tournament (seven wins and three draws). The Light Blues will turn the tide and prepare for Saturday’s important clash against the Blue and Whites at the Alejandro Villanueva Stadium. Nunes has to recruit his eleven without the presence of his referee Yotún.
On the other hand, Unión Comercio are still without a win in this Clausura (two defeats) and will try to get their first points in the second tournament of the league season when they host the Sport Boys on Sunday.
Did you know . . .
From local. Sporting Cristal haven’t lost a match at Alberto Gallardo vs Atlético Grau since October 20, 2022. In this duel, the light blues lost 1:2.