It was the play that changed the course of the semifinal between Boca and Estudiantes, for the League Cup in Córdoba. At that moment, the Mario Kempes stadium took on a different temperature: 19 minutes from the end of the match, Cristian Lema committed an unusual infraction against the Uruguayan Tiago Palacios in the area, with a kick worthy of a karateka. It was a clear penalty for Pincha and a logical new card for the defender, that he was already reprimanded. Until that moment, Boca won 1-0 with Miguel Merentiel’s goal 41 minutes into the first half.
Thus, Boca was left with ten players. And León had a penalty, celebrated in advance by Enzo Pérez. The Colombian Edwin Cetré, with physical discomfort and who had been admitted a while before, was not afraid of Romero, a specialist in the art of penalties. It was a furious finish. Students tied and, truly, it began other match, which led to penalties and, ultimately, the team from La Plata going to the final.
Until that moment, Boca had the game quite under control thanks to the goal of Miguel Merentiel, the same Uruguayan who would miss the execution of his penalty. Of course, Diego Martínez’s team, up to that point, had problems in their area and forced Chiquito Romero to intervene on several occasions. But nothing like Lema’s recklessness, who didn’t look to see that Palacios was next to him and fouled him inside the area. Arasa’s decision is unappealable. Afterwards, it was all for Estudiantes: the precision in the penalties and the key intervention of goalkeeper Matías Mansilla, to begin next Sunday’s final against Vélez.
In this way, Pincha beat Boca 3 to 1 on penalties and thanks to the marksmanship of Mancuso, Carrillo and Méndez, while Zenón scored the only one for Xeneize. The great figure of the definition was the goalkeeper Matías Mansilla, who contained the shots from Cavani and Figal. In addition, Merentiel hit the crossbar with his shot and Romero stopped Cetré’s shot.
Separate paragraph for Lema and his black night, because he had received a first warning after participating in a riot and crossing paths with Santiago Ascacibar and Enzo Pérez. He was the only one sanctioned, after Edinson Cavani’s foul on Fernando Zuqui that sparked the incident. Then would come the fateful play that precipitated the beginning of the end for Boca, in pursuit of Xeneize’s dream of reaching the final of the League Cup.