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

On Sunday afternoon, Atlético de Rafaela fell on their visit to Salta against Juventud Antoniana in the context of matchday 7 of the Federal A Tournament in its Championship Phase. It was a 2-0 victory for Antoniano, who are hopeful of securing a qualification spot.

For this match, coach Iván Juárez made a single tactical change in the starting eleven with the inclusion of Tadeo Marchiori in the 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 field and was replaced by Derlis Aquino. Meanwhile, in a match more fought than played, the home team was the one proposing more.

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 the partial advantage.

In the second half, Juventud Antoniana maintained their dominance on the field and made the Rafaela goalkeeper a key figure who had to intervene in three crucial plays to avoid a new goal against. The post also prevented the fall of their goal in 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 anticipated 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 of this defeat.

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