San Lorenzo beat Platense, Unión dropped to 8th in Zone A | OneFootball

With their win over Platense, San Lorenzo reached 6th place with 22 points, and as a result Unión now sit 8th.

San Lorenzo held firm and earned a vital 1-0 away win over Platense in a match corresponding to the 16th round of Zone A of the Apertura Tournament, played at the Ciudad de Vicente López stadium.

With this victory, El Ciclón climbed to 6th place in Zone A with 22 points and pushed Unión down to 8th with 19 points, with their match against Vélez still to be played on Monday.

The only goal of the match for the Boedo side was scored by Rodrigo Auzmendi in the 27th minute of the first half, with a precise header after a corner kick.

With this result, Gustavo Álvarez’s team reached sixth place in Group A with 22 points, while “El Marrón” remained in 11th place and without any chance of qualifying for the tournament’s playoffs.

Now, San Lorenzo will host Independiente in the final round of the championship. Platense, meanwhile, will do the same against Estudiantes.

In this way, the blue-and-red side took advantage of Defensa y Justicia’s crushing 4-0 defeat to Boca and “El Rojo’s” recent 2-0 loss to Deportivo Riestra to move within touching distance of the next round. Before the clash against the Avellaneda side, they must host Santos on Tuesday, April 28 at 19:00, in the third round of the Copa Sudamericana group stage.

Although “El Calamar” were the better side, even if they were not dominating, “El Ciclón’s” goal came during the home team’s best spell. Matías Reali sent in a cross from the right corner kick, and it found Rodrigo Auzmendi’s head. He rose above everyone and powered the ball beyond the reach of goalkeeper Matías Botgogno.

After the goal, Walter Zunino’s men, forced to chase an equalizer to keep their hopes of reaching the local championship round of 16 alive, began to leave spaces at the back that the blue-and-red side failed to capitalize on.

In the 33rd minute, Auzmendi himself missed a golden chance to extend the lead when he was one-on-one with the opposing goalkeeper, but as he went to shoot, he stumbled and was unable to strike the ball accurately.

In a duller second half, Platense had few chances to level the match, and when they did, they were denied by San Lorenzo goalkeeper Orlando Gill. First Bautista Merlini with a long-range shot, and then Leonardo Heredia with a header—both coming on in the second half—came close to equalizing, but neither could beat the keeper.

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