Corinthians overcomes hostile climate and advances in the South American – 07/18/2023 – Sport

In a game marked by widespread confusion minutes before the final whistle, Corinthians again beat Universitario, from Peru, this Tuesday (18), by 2-1, and advanced to the round of 16 of the Sudamericana .

After winning at home by 1-0 last week, the alvinegro team had goals from Maycon and Ryan to overcome the Peruvians again. Edison Flores scored the only goal for the hosts.

About two minutes before the end of the additions determined by the Colombian referee Wilmar Roldán, players from both teams had a disagreement, which ended up becoming a general fight on the field. The police had to go onto the lawn to separate the two sides.

It was not possible to identify the reason for the fight, but it occurred right after the second goal of the Corinthians, in the 47th minute of the second half.

Roldán still decided to resume the duel, but expelled five players, two from the alvinegro team Ryan and Matheus Araújo, in addition to Di Benedetto, Calcaterra and Guzmán, the latter was among the reserves. With the added time given by the referee, the time elapsed in the second half was over 112 minutes, as the official stopwatch did not stop during the confusion.

Ranked, the alvinegro team will now face Newell’s Old Boys, from Argentina, in the round of 16 of the second most important competition on the continent.

Even before the confrontation in Lima, Peru, the atmosphere was tense. Hours before the ball rolled, the Brazilian team’s board was warned that there was a risk that the bus hired to take the delegation from the hotel to the stadium would be the target of stoning.

The scenario was presented to the club by the Peruvian authorities themselves. It was even suggested to the board of directors alvinegra that the displacement be made in a police bus to guarantee security. The alternative was rejected by Corinthians.

In the evaluation of the top hats, if they had to accept such protection, it was a clear sign that the authorities could not guarantee the minimum security for the match. The club ended up keeping what had been planned and traveled with a chartered bus.

According to the Meu Timão website, the arrival at the site did not have any incidents recorded.

During the week, the Corinthians president, Duilio Monteiro Alves, sent a letter to Conmebol (South American Football Confederation) expressing concern for the safety of athletes, employees and also the alvinegra fans.

The fear was that the Brazilians would be targets of retaliation after the arrest of Sebastian Avellino Vargas, 43, a physical trainer at Universitario, accused of racism during the first match between the teams, in Itaquera, on Tuesday (11).

The Uruguayan professional was arrested in the act while still on the premises of the Neo Química Arena. Then, the next day, he went through a custody hearing, when the arrest in flagrante ended up being converted into preventive, therefore, without a determined time, until the end of the investigation process.

His arrest caused revolt in the Peruvian club, which classified the episode as “humiliating and outrageous”.

Videos that circulate on social networks, however, show the physical trainer positioning himself in front of the Corinthian fans and, apparently, imitating a monkey. “Clear and unequivocal gestures from the animal towards Brazilian fans”, cites the text of the decision of the 4th Chamber of Criminal Law of the Court of Justice of São Paulo that determined the preventive detention.

Despite the evidence, Universitario again demonstrated against Avellino’s arrest and, last Friday (14th), before a match against Unión Comercio for the local championship, the Peruvian team’s squad displayed a banner with the phrase : “We are with you, Sebastián A.”

Before the ball rolled this Tuesday, however, the club released a statement reminding fans of punishments in case of some attitudes during the match, such as throwing objects or invading the field, and saying inappropriate words.

In addition to the safety issue, Corinthians coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo was also concerned about a public health issue due to an unusual outbreak of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, classified as an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system itself starts to attack certain parts of an individual’s body.