Barcelona vs. Botafogo
Our own Barcelona (SC) is the joint leader of its Copa Libertadores group. Last night, without several key players, Barcelona faced the other leader, the Brazilian club Botafogo, notable this year for wearing gray socks. Like these:
Against us, though, Botafogo wore black socks.
Botafogo pressed quite hard and in the second minute earned a bogus penalty kick, which Máximo Banguera blocked. Botafogo continued pressing but Banguera kept the ball out of the goal. Gradually we began building our own attacks.
Then we scored a golazo, using a wall pass and some nifty dribbling.
“Golazo hjpta,” I wrote to Stephen.
In the second half, we tried to finish off Botafogo. One time, when we were about to score, the visitors’ goalie brought an extra ball onto the field. The referee allowed play to continue. A defender stopped our attack by committing a hard foul. The ref expelled neither the goalie nor the defender.
Some minutes later, though, he unjustly expelled one of our defenders.
To cover the defender’s position, we were forced to bring in a youngster who promptly handled the ball for another penalty kick. In his run-up, the kicker appeared to make a full stop, stranding Banguera. But the ref allowed the goal to count.
“Amarilla y tiro libre indirecto,” fumed Stephen.
The announcers consulted technical experts who assured them the kick was legal. But I have my doubts.
A video of the proceedings:
Against us, though, Botafogo wore black socks.
Botafogo pressed quite hard and in the second minute earned a bogus penalty kick, which Máximo Banguera blocked. Botafogo continued pressing but Banguera kept the ball out of the goal. Gradually we began building our own attacks.
Then we scored a golazo, using a wall pass and some nifty dribbling.
“Golazo hjpta,” I wrote to Stephen.
In the second half, we tried to finish off Botafogo. One time, when we were about to score, the visitors’ goalie brought an extra ball onto the field. The referee allowed play to continue. A defender stopped our attack by committing a hard foul. The ref expelled neither the goalie nor the defender.
Some minutes later, though, he unjustly expelled one of our defenders.
To cover the defender’s position, we were forced to bring in a youngster who promptly handled the ball for another penalty kick. In his run-up, the kicker appeared to make a full stop, stranding Banguera. But the ref allowed the goal to count.
“Amarilla y tiro libre indirecto,” fumed Stephen.
The announcers consulted technical experts who assured them the kick was legal. But I have my doubts.
A video of the proceedings: