The standings don’t always tell the whole truth. In some cases, specifically in Colombian soccer, a translation is needed.
The regulations contemplate an indulgence for the teams that do the best job in the first phase and that is why today the final of the Betplay I League 2024 is Atlético Bucaramanga vs Santa Fe and not Millonarios vs Santa Fe, as it should be if only the final classification counted. of the home runs.
The leopard team was going to have the advantage with anyone who tied it on points in this semifinal and it happened with all the rivals in the group: they added 8 points but the place in the final went to those in yellow. Millonarios surpassed him for the most goals scored, but the rules are the rules and everyone knows them before the start of the competition.
The final that was not
The detail of the so-called ‘invisible point’ meant that the final of the 2017 tournament was not revived, when the El Campín stadium was painted blue and red in back-and-forth duels that fans remember as if it were yesterday.
That time there were no home runs but direct elimination keys, and thus the ‘Cardinals’ got rid of Jaguares and the blues of La Equidad in the quarterfinals, while in the semifinals the reds beat Tolima and the ambassadors left América on the road From Cali.
The film of that duel in the final, in the midst of Russo’s fight against cancer, plays in the memory of capital fans in great detail: in the first leg duel, with Millonarios at home, it was a 1-0 victory with a goal by Matías de los Santos; In the first leg, with a red stadium, Wilson Morelo opened the score with a penalty, Andrés Cadavid tied, Morelo again overtook the red and then, 5 minutes from the end, Henry Rojas scored a great goal from medium distance that gave the blue the star 15.
