Independiente goalkeeper, Diego Rodríguez endured a night to forget in Avellaneda on Thursday night after his missed penalty and goalkeeping error handed Colombian side, Santa Fe a hugely valuable away win in their Copa Sudamericana first leg. El Rojo, under Mauricio Pellegrino, are not accustomed to defeat but will now require a huge effort to overturn this result next week in Bogotá, if they are to reach the semi-final.
The home side were left to rue the normally reliable Rodríguez’s penalty miss in the 20th minute after Colombian centre-back, Fernando Mina had clumsily brought down Juan Martín Lucero. Amid the Colombian protests and the subsequent attempts to put off Rodríguez the goalkeeper failed to connect cleanly with the ball and it allowed his counterpart, Robinson Zapata to turn it around the post.
Neither side were really do enough to warrant a lead but shortly after the hour mark the visitors were gifted a vital away goal. Left-back Leivin Balanta burst past Gustavo Toledo and his attempt to drill the ball across the face of goal caught Diego Rodríguez unaware and whistled past his right hand and into the net.
Independiente tried to push for an equaliser but the closest they came was a Federico Mancuello free-kick comfortably palmed away by Zapata. The tie is not over but El Rojo’s hopes of lifting the Copa Sudamericana are hanging by a thread with the Colombians now firm favourites to meet either Huracán or Defensor Sporting.
golazo argentino 