Y It took almost four years for Atlético Bucaramanga’s fans to shout again: we qualified!
And it was in a historically difficult square, where the tears of the Bucaros players rolled, with the declines of 1994 and 2008.
But whoever they are going to hit, they keep and from those bitter moments in the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium in Pereira they turn into moments of happiness.
There, Sherman Cárdenas, very young, 19 years old, was consoled by the historic goalkeeper René Higuita and 14 years later, now more mature, he celebrated like a child the classification among the eight (tears of joy).
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And the Santander midfielder had a lot to do with it, assisting Dayro Moreno so that he decreed the first (42′) and then Michel Acosta so that he made the second (71) and once again Dayro so that he converted the third (88 ‘), which added to the results of the other places, facilitated access to the semi-final homers for the Bumangués club.
Undoubtedly a great relief for the fans and the entire family of the “Leopard” team that suffered throughout the semester and mainly on the last date, but in the end it reached the goal, which it had not achieved since the second half of 2018.
The ‘yellow’ team arrived at the last ‘battle’ of the all-against-all phase of the BetPlay I League of 2022 with the need to beat Pereira as a visitor and, in addition, wait for two of three results in other scenarios.
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Atlético did their own task, beat the ‘matecañas’, and then the planets aligned for the other results to occur: Santa Fe’s 2-2 draw against Once Caldas in Manizales and Alianza Petrolera’s 1-0 fall in Bogotá with Millionaires.
Thus, ‘El Leopardo’ finished eighth with 29 points and relegated the ‘aliancistas’, ninth with 29 units but with worse goal difference; and the ‘cardinals’, tenth with 27 points.
A miraculous classification, which allows those led by Armando ‘El Piripi’ Osma to dream of putting up a fight in the semi-final home runs, now without so much pressure, because everything they see comes and turns into profit and the obligation belongs to the so-called ‘great ‘.
Ups and downs campaign
The box búcaro cut the bad streak of recent seasons, with a campaign marked by ups and downs in performance.
Things did not start well at the hands of Argentine coach Néstor Craviotto, who did not find his way back into the group and left on the eighth day with the team in the last places.
Armando ‘El Piripi’ Osma from Santander assumed the technical direction and the improvement was immediately evident in the results.
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Against all odds, the injured ‘Leopardo’ got up and fought again for the classification, settling in fifth place on date 15.
But the story goes that there is no happy story without suffering at Atlético and there were moments of turbulence, with difficulties in sustaining victories in matches, defensive failures and the goal was closed.
Thus, in the midst of doubts and with the recent elimination in the BetPlay Cup in tow, the most representative club in the region assumed the final date, in which it brought out its best repertoire to give the fans a joy, in the week of 73rd birthday.
May 14, 2022 will be a date to remember, because the duo made up of Dayro Moreno and Sherman Cárdenas brought out the best of their football, supported by some teammates (Kevin Pérez, Juan Chaverra, Michel Acosta, Carlos Henao, Juan Marcelín and Cristian Subero, among others) who ran like never before and followed coach Osma’s instructions to the letter.