Universitario de Deportes and Alianza Lima will play the first classic match of the year on Sunday.

Both teams were unable to win in their previous matches (the cream team drew with San Martin and Alianza Lima lost against Cristal), so the game on Sunday (6:15 pm., at the Monumental Stadium) is a great opportunity for them to get back to the path of victory.

Gambetta trust Menendez

Will Menendez, who is not a FIFA referee, have enough personality to do a good job in this match and not let the pressure of refereeing a classic overwhelm him? His former colleague Henry Gambetta, interim president of the CONAR, assures that he will.

"We have decided who will be the referee of the classic, it is a pleasant appearance and we are very excited about his nomination. We hope he is up to the circumstances. We are talking about Augusto Menendez, who is a very young referee. We believe that this is the ideal classic for him because it opens the year and does not define important things. We also believe that he is capable of resolving this match, he will be accompanied by Jhonny Bossio and Coty Carrera," said Gambetta.

Menendez has already refereed a match of Alianza Lima this year (against Sport Boys, for the Supercup). He has also directed the match between Municipal and Melgar (with a victory for the team from Arequipa). Thus, the match on Sunday will be the third game in which Augusto Menendez plays the role of main referee in 2018.