Santos Laguna suffered in the first half of their home game against Macará in the Copa Sudamericana, with a goal from Franco Posse in the first minutes. The team directed by Cuca entered disconnected to the field and with serious difficulties to take control of the actions. The midfield took time to connect the defense with the attack, a situation that the Ecuadorian team knew how to take advantage of perfectly to give the first blow of the night.
With the disadvantage, the Peixe suffered throughout the initial stage, not only for the football performance, but also for the bad luck of the injuries. Gabriel Menino and Gabriel Bontempo fell to the grass with discomfort and had to leave the field prematurely, forcing Cuca to burn early variants with the entries of Davizinho and Benjamín Rollheiser, respectively.
If that were not enough, Neymar set off all the alarms when he temporarily left the field with a strong pain in his right ankle, leaving his team with ten men while he was being attended to on the bench. The star, who returned to the field looking at a new pair of boots, showed discomfort at first, although with the passage of minutes the pain gave truce.
In that accidented first half, the own Gabigol also required medical attention and showed erratic, leaving pass a couple of clear occasions. However, when the first half was agonizing at 43 minutes, the magic was present: Neymar rubbed the lamp and, first, filtered a surgical pass to the area. There appeared Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa, who defined the first touch to stamp the partial tie and celebrate, in passing, his 100th goal with the Paulista club shirt.
With the 1-1, both teams went to the break. Santos came out to play the second half with another attitude and absolute offensiveness. Near the start, the own Gabigol starred in a couple of connections with Neymar that ended in the net, but both goals were invalidated by advanced position.
The long-awaited redemption arrived at 75 minutes of play. Neymar executed a venomous corner kick direct to the heart of the area and there appeared Willian Arão - the same player who had been marked in the early goal of Macará - to connect a frentazo that sent the ball to the net. The ball overcame the line of sentence and the referee validated the 2-1 definitive.
This worked victory leaves Santos with a narrow advantage in the series. The ticket to the quarterfinals will be defined next Thursday in the 2,580 meters of altitude of the city of Ambato, where the Ecuadorian team will try to turn the history. Santos Laguna currently occupies the 17th position in the Liga MX, with 0 points, 0 wins, 0 draws and 3 losses in the first 3 games, and a -5 goal difference. In the Copa Sudamericana, the team faces Macará in the series, with a draw in the first leg and a victory in the second leg.
Santos Laguna will have to face Guadalajara Chivas in their next game at home, on August 17. The team has lost the last 5 games, with a streak of defeats that goes back to last week. The team also suffered a defeat in their last game, with a 3-0 score in favor of Club América in the game of August 2.
