Atlético Rafaela lose to Juventud, limp into Rafaela derby | OneFootball

On Sunday afternoon, Atlético de Rafaela fell during their visit to Salta against Juventud Antoniana as part of the 7th round of the Federal A Tournament in its Championship Phase. It was a 2-0 victory for Antoniano, who are hopeful of securing a place in the qualifying positions.

For this match, coach Iván Juárez made a single tactical change in the starting eleven with the inclusion of Tadeo Marchiori in midfield. Thus, the team lined up with Emanuel Bilbao; Fernando Ponce, Gabriel Fernández, Nicolás Utrera and Julián Fuyana; Marchiori, Facundo Soloa, Damiano Jaime and Facundo Affranchino; Ciro Leineker and Lucas Albertengo.

The deficiencies that Celeste would suffer throughout the 90 minutes began to show from the start when, before the first quarter of an hour, they lost their captain and top scorer to injury. Albertengo left the pitch and was replaced by Derlis Aquino. Meanwhile, in a game that was more fought than played, the home team was the one making more of the running.

The first difference on the scoreboard came towards the end of the first half. It was the 40th minute when a cross from the right ended up bouncing off Juan Cruz Franzoni to beat Bilbao and give the local team a partial advantage.

In the second half, Juventud Antoniana maintained their dominance on the pitch and made the Rafaela goalkeeper a standout figure who had to intervene in three key plays to prevent a new goal against. The post also prevented his goal from falling on a set piece.

Atlético, despite various changes from midfield forward, lacked play and opportunism to put their opponent in trouble. Towards the end of the game, from a free kick on the left side - very poorly defended - Ignacio Sanabria got ahead of everyone and established the 2-0 that would be definitive.

For Atlético de Rafaela, it was the first defeat in this stage of the championship and put their leadership in Zone B at risk. In addition, they come into the much-anticipated derby against 9 de Julio at the Monumental Stadium next weekend on the back foot.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.