After what was a hugely promising 2018 if there was one thing that Vélez Sarsfield needed to improve it was their form away from Liniers. On Monday evening, Gabriel Heinze’s talented young side travelled to Quilmes to face Estudiantes and despite falling behind, Vélez came back to secure an impressive 2-1 win on the road.
An Estudiantes side that has largely underwhelmed over the past year tested Vélez early on from set-pieces and after Lucas Albertengo had a decent penalty claim waved away the on-loan striker headed the opening goal.
However, Vélez have already demonstrated they are more than capable of overcoming such set-backs and before the break El Fortín were level. A stunning counter spread the ball to Matías Vargas and as the 21-year-old has done on so many occasions already he cut inside the full-back on the left to find the net with a right-footed finish.
If the quality of Vargas’ finish was good, Lucas Robertone’s to give Vélez the lead shortly after the break was sensational. Clipping the ball forward to Rodrigo Salinas, the big number nine chested the ball down before rolling it back into the path of Robertone to bend expertly into the corner from outside the box.
The win puts Vélez fifth and provided Heinze doesn’t suffer any serious injury a return of Copa Libertadores football to Liniers is a real possibility.
Estudiantes 1 – 2 Vélez Sarsfield
Earlier in Santa Fe, Luis Rodríguez made his Colón debut and one of the summer’s most surprising transfers confirmed what we all already knew – La Pulga is a terrific signing.
It took only quarter of an hour for Rodríguez to find a pocket of space, swivel and fire Colón in front and Argentinos Juniors scoring only five goals this season meant a comeback already looked unlikely.
The visitors task became more difficult when Fausto Montero was shown a second yellow card just after half time and when the Pulga released Leonardo Heredia with an outside-of-the-boot pass the 23-year-old wrapped up the points.
Things got even worse for Argentinos when goalkeeper Federico Lanzillota was sent off for handling outside the area and while Colón didn’t add to their tally, Los Bichos remain rooted to the foot of the table and in grave danger of relegation.
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