Velez Sarsfield Vs. Godoy Cruz: Full Time, Teams Fight To Entertaining Draw

It looks like life might be hard on Velez Sarsfield without Maxi Moralez and Ricky Alvarez, who have both departed for the greener pastures of Serie A, but thanks to a silly red card, a great fight back, and a fantastic golazo, they’ve earned a solid 1-1 draw to start the season, getting one point from a solid Godoy Cruz team.

Rubén Ramírez scored the opening goal by Godoy Cruz, but his finish was the easy part. The hard part was the setup, which was provided brilliantly by Diego Villar. Taking the ball down the right, he beat a defender before putting a great ball across the box. Ramirez was in great position and tapped it home, giving his team the lead.

However, that lead would come into jeopardy just before halftime as Godoy Cruz went down a man. Nicolás Sánchez committed an intentional handball on the outside of the penalty area and was shown a straight red card on the 40th minute. Luckily for him and Godoy Cruz, nothing came of the chance.

Unsurprisingly, Velez looked better in the second half against ten men after being outplayed for most of the second half. The equalizer would eventually come in the 64th minute, in an unconventional manner off of a corner kick. After the corner was delivered into the box, it was deflected out and fell to Iván Bella. The wide midfield player stepped up and ripped a great shot from 25 yards, somehow sneaking it through a giant mess of traffic into the back of the net.

Velez almost found a winner in spectacular fashion in the 84th minute. While probing for a winner, Juan Manuel Martinez hit a chipped cross towards Santiago Silva. The veteran striker went for a stunning bicycle kick and connected well, but sent it just over the bar. A draw was probably a just result, and both teams should walk away satisfied.