Sporting Cristal played in a great game against Deportivo Garcilaso on day 8 of the Liga 1 Apertura tournament last Sunday, March 12th, in which they missed three important points against the league leaders. Despite the four goals they scored, the Sky Blues couldn’t defend their victory and ended up splitting, causing madness among the locals. Although the sting of the tie lingers, it’s not all bad news for Rímac as four promising players made their senior debuts.
Taking advantage of the Rimense club’s minors, Tiago Nunes lined up these players to rest his team’s starters, thinking of the clash against Huracán for the Copa Libertadores. The Brazilian commanded a reserve team that included three 20-year-old players and a 17-year-old player making their first division debuts.
We’re talking about Flavio Gabriel Alcedo Gutiérrez, Gilmar Alonso Paredes Esquives, Alejandro Jesús Pósito Olazábal and Diego Otoya.
The four Cristal promises that debuted with Sporting Cristal
Flavio Alcedo He was the only rookie to start in the game against Deportivo Garcilaso. The 20-year-old defender was making his debut as a professional and was joined by Rafael Lutiger at the back. He was part of the Peru U20 team that played in the Sudamericano and came on as a substitute in stage two of the Copa Libertadores.
Flavio Alcedo, Sporting Cristal defender. Photo: Recording/Instagram
Gilmar Paredes He appeared in the second half, substituting for Adrián Ascues to work in the Sky Blue team’s defensive zone. Before his debut, he had only played for the Peru Sub-20 and the Copa Libertadores in the same category.
Gilmar Paredes, right-back for Sporting Cristal. Photo: Recording/Instagram
The last two went into the duel between Cristal and Garcilaso Alejandro Posito (17) j Diego Otoya (18), replacing Alcedo and Ugarriza respectively. Both had a few minutes to show themselves, but made it into the professional team for the first time in their careers.
Diego Otoya, forward for Sporting Cristal. Photo: Recording/Instagram
Alejandro Pósito (centre), Sporting Cristal midfielder. Photo: Recording/Instagram
It should be noted that Otoya is a forward and has dual citizenship, in this case that of the United States. Most recently, he played for the U-20 national team and took part in the MLS Next Pro youth tournament with the San Jose Earthquaks.