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Officially, his last match with Sporting Cristal was on November 6, 2022: on that day, the team lost against Melgar in the semifinals of the Liga 1. Despite this, in Alejandro Duarte's mind, there was only the idea of finding his revenge immediately, and bad luck struck on the Tarde Celeste, on January 15: Tiago Nunes' team defeated Deportivo Tolima 2-1, but the joy was not complete. What happened? Alejandro Duarte got injured. Since then, he missed the start of the Torneo Apertura and, of course, the Copa Libertadores.
So, along the way, Renato Solís appeared -once again- and had good performances in the Celestial goal (especially in the matches against Nacional of Paraguay and Huracán of Argentina). In the midst of it all, the Brazilian coach gave Duarte the confidence to reappear in a tough location: Juliaca.
Alejandro Duarte returned to the goal of Sporting Cristal for the match against Binacional and showed security despite the four months of absence: he handled well the long-distance shots in the 3,800 meters of altitude. This time, the joy was double: he put on the gloves and his team achieved a great victory with 10 men since the 39th minute (Flavio Alcedo was sent off).
"I was very excited to play again. I went through difficult months and when they told me that I was going to play, I was very happy. I had to be very focused to have a good match and finish with the victory... and even more so with a clean sheet, it makes me very happy," said the goalkeeper to the media upon his arrival at Jorge Chavez airport.
Sporting Cristal vs. Binacional: match chronicle
It was not an easy task for Sporting Cristal, for the following reasons: Binacional, under Darío Franco, had been strong since they returned to the Guillermo Briceño Rosamedina stadium (they came with a draw and three victories), and also because of the 3,800 meters of altitude. With all those precedents, any point was a good deal for Tiago Nunes' team.
Now, in the midst of that scenario, the team from Rímac showed their 'celestial race' and even with one less player, since the 39th minute (Flavio Alcedo was sent off), they held on with everything in this difficult location and secured three golden points at the end, thanks to Leandro Sosa's great goal.
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