As is usual in recent dates of Colombian soccer, the stadiums are under repair, so some teams have to find a stadium to play as the home team. Patriots used the Techo stadium in Bogotá to play against Millonarios and catch up in the Liga Águila.
Goals that sealed the deal
With the novelty of Mayer Cándelo as a starter in Lunari's squad, the Bogota team had a drastic change in attitude and impregnated the rest of the blue team with offensive power.
The previous qualities were indispensable for Millonarios to reach the first goal in a joint play between a pass from Mayer to Maxi Núñez, who in a precise center to Michael Rangel, the forward hit a half turn shot to make the visiting fans cheer.
Seven minutes passed and the Núñez-Rangel duo appeared again to score the second goal of the match. A previous play in which the Argentine caught the Patriotas defense off guard in a corner kick and passed the ball to Rangel, who headed it in.
Before the end of the first half, the Boyacá team reactivated to the point of searching for a penalty after a handball in the area by Andrés Cadavid. It was defender Carlos Henao who scored the discount goal from the penalty spot, indescribable for Nicolás Vikonis.
In the second half, coach Harold Rivera made modifications anticipating a possible tie; Carlos Rivas and Mauricio Gómez came in with the mission of not letting points slip away that compromise the Boyacá team in the top eight in the standings.
Millonarios let their guard down, lost the ball and allowed Patriotas to complicate things, but the Maxi-Rangel duo was there and in the 61st minute, the new top scorer of Millonarios was sharp in decreeing the third ambassador joy. Unstoppable was the player from Santander who, in just one game, became the top scorer for the blue team.
Patriotas refused to lose by a big difference and the discount goal came from the bench, Carlos Rivas, in a powerful shot, hit the right post of Nicolás Vikonis in the 76th minute to declare the final score 3-2.
With the result in their favor, the team of Ricardo Lunari temporarily entered the top eight in the standings of the Liga Águila with six points and a goal difference of +2. Michael Rangel achieved his second hat trick in Colombian soccer, previously having scored the same number of goals with the Santa Fe jersey in a 4-1 win against Expreso Rojo for Copa.