Alianza Lima 4-1 Estudiantes: Holders Destroyed in Copa Libertadores (Group 3)

Alianza Lima 4-1 Estudiantes
Copa Libertadores 2010 (Group 3)
Goals: Sosa 1′, Aguirre 18′ 34′ 74′, Fernandez 84′

Talk about a beating. As the home team left the field to a rapturous reception, Alianza Lima’s players and supporters grinning from ear to ear, and as the photographers and journalists sprinted to get a word in with hat-trick hero Wilmer Aguirre, a camera panned round and focussed momentarily on Juan Sebastien Veron. He looked shellshocked. “Against Alianza Lima we will show why we are the current [Copa Libertadores] champions,” the Estudiantes playmaker and icon stated confidently before the game. If that sort of display is why they are champions, CONMEBOL may want to speak to Estudiantes to ask for their trophy back.

Instead, a 4-1 drubbing is what the defending champions got on their trip to Lima. A gutsy performance full of courage, determination and raw energy from Alianza simply stormed the Argentine outfit into submission as the Peruvians, spearheaded by a masterful display from striker Aguirre, ran riot. By the time the game ended the visitors were left wondering what hit them.

A celebratory mood gripped the air at the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva stadium in Lima prior to kick-off. As if a visit from the South American champions wasn’t enough, Alianza Lima celebrated it’s 109th year of existence this past Monday. Supporters of los Blanquiazules were looking for a reason to party and, as it turned out, the team provided the perfect birthday present.

It didn’t look like they would deliver at first though. Despite a blue and white-hot atmosphere in the stands it took just 8 seconds for the stadium to go silent as Estudiantes scored straight from the kick-off… Alianza Lima’s kick-off! A woefully misjudged attempt at a hoof upfield was blocked by Jose Sosa and bounced kindly to put him clean through. The Argentine, on loan from Bayern Munich, duly accepted his gift and casually beat Alianza keeper Salomon Libman to put Estudiantes 1-0 up. Stunned silence in the crowd.

The Wilmer Aguirre show

The opening goal knocked Alianza’s players out of their stride briefly, but the force was too strong in them, the determination palpable. Estudiantes may be a more cultured outfit, South American kings and runners-up only to FC Barcelona as world club champions, but Alianza Lima wanted this victory far more. It told in the fearless way they ploughed into 50-50 challenges and in the way they fought doggedly for every header. It told in the conviction they showed going forward and in the honesty they demonstrated tracking back. And it told in the eyes of Wilmer Aguirre, hero of the night and the embodiment of everything positive Alianza Lima had to offer.

Leading from the front, his thunderous commitment and boundless energy were too much for the princely Estudiantes, who didn’t quite know how to handle the 26-year-old former FC Metz striker. Throughout the game Alianza set the tempo too high for the visitors, and this pressure finally paid off in the 18th minute when Aguirre cleverly worked himself some space in the box before hitting an instinctive volley past Agustin Orion. 1-1 and the crowd ERUPTED.

15 minutes later it was 2-1. Estudiantes, constantly on the back foot and with great holes appearing regularly in defence, found themselves backtracking as Aguirre won the ball in the middle of the opposition half, beat three men and slotted home his second of the night. Los Pincharratas’ defence dealt with Aguirre as if in one of those classic Laurel and Hardy sketches, flapping about desperately in a state of confused, comedic perplexity. The joke was on the Argentines.

While the first half was frantic and wild, the second half calmed down a bit as the game entered a scrappy passage of play full of fouls, which culminated in a booking for Estudiantes defender Christian Cellay. In the 57th minute Aguirre, a frenzied buzz-saw of a player who reminds me of a pacier version of Carlos Tevez, lit up the match once again with a fantastic long range effort tipped desperately over the bar by Orion, created through great skill by Joel Sanchez. Alianza were buzzing again.

Pincha struggle

Estudiantes on the other hand were floundering. Veron’s passing came from too deep to do the hosts any real damage and his every advance up the field was met by stringent marking. And but for one golden chance squandered in the first half, Mauro Boselli, recently scouted by Birmingham City, was anonymous.

In the 74th minute Alianza Lima’s efforts were rewarded further when they went 3-1 up. Again it came from Aguirre’s brilliance. Overpowering Leandro Desabato in the challenge with ease, he then skinned his man for pace before firing a left foot drive past Orion from just outside the box. A great goal, a superb hat-trick and a masterful performance. 10 minutes later – 4-1. Some neat work down Lima’s right hand side resulted in Aguirre (who else?) setting up Jose Carlos Fernandez, and the lively forward volleyed home emphatically to complete the thrashing. 4-1 and the champions of South America well and truly humbled.

The defeat represents a dark night for Estudiantes. Not only is it their first Copa Libertadores reversal in almost a year and Alejandro Sabella’s first Libertadores loss as Estudiantes coach, but the 4-1 beating is also los Pinchas‘ highest ever Copa Libertadores defeat on foreign soil. Only once before have they lost so badly – in 1984 against Independiente.

“We are all aware that we’ve just beaten the Copa Libertadores champions,” Aguirre proudly told the press afterwards while teammates danced jubilantly around him on the field.

It was a historic result for Alianza Lima but truly a night to forget for the reigning kings of South America.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVZ68TOZCfg]

Alianza Lima, Argentinian Football, Copa Libertadores, Estudiantes, Football in Latin America, Peruvian Football