Penarol ended a seven-year championship drought
Despite being held to a 1-1 stalemate by archrivals Nacional in the second leg of the final at the Centenario stadium in Montevideo on Tuesday, Penarol won their first Uruguayan championship in seven years. With their 1-0 victory over Nacional on Saturday, Penarol improved their two-leg finals series victory to 2-1 overall.
Diego Aguirre’s team won the championship thanks to a goal from Matias Aguirregaray in the 68th minute in a tight match that had both sets of supporters on the edge of their seats.
Alejandro Lembo connected on an Angel Morales corner with a deft header that deflected off a Penarol defender to give Nacional the lead in the 35th minute.
After scoring, Nacional appeared to gain confidence and crushed Penarol as they looked for a second.
Penarol improved in the second half, even if they lacked creativity when attacking. In the 68th minute, Sergio Orteman supplied Aguirregaray with a wonderful through the pass, and the midfielder raced into the box before finishing precisely to beat Rodrigo Munoz.
Sergio Blanco and Sebastian Balsas, though, made Nacional’s assault considerably more dangerous and they outplayed Penarol as they looked for the game-winning goal.
After Gaston Ramirez reduced Penarol to ten men in the 81st minute, Los Tricolores applied a lot of pressure on the Penarol goal, but they were unable to get past Sebastian Sosa, the tenacious Penarol goalkeeper, who made many excellent saves.
Three minutes before the game’s conclusion, Nacional was only inches away from winning when, dramatically, Sebastian Coates’ incredible acrobatic attempt and a Balsas header both struck the goal frame.
With Saturday’s triumph and today’s tie, Penarol was able to break their seven-year title drought. Antonio Pacheco’s header on Saturday was the only Penarol player to score against Nacional in eight derbies.
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