Sporting Cristal is going through a good football moment in recent weeks. Tiago Nunes took some time, but he found the key for the sky blues to start advancing like a well-oiled machine both in Liga 1 and at the continental level, managing to finish second in the Apertura, start with a win in the Clausura, and access the playoffs of the Copa Sudamericana 2023.
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Currently, the brewers are on a winning streak. They haven't lost in 13 matches (their last defeat was against Universitario at the Monumental) and part of their string of positive results is because the Brazilian strategist has found three weapons that are deadly when combined in the same lineup.
Hohberg, Grimaldo, and Brenner, the secret of Cristal's good results
Of the 13 matches in which they have remained undefeated, Nunes used the attacking trio composed of Alejandro Hohberg, Joao Grimaldo, and Brenner Marlos in eight of them. With them in the starting eleven, Cristal achieved six wins and two draws.
In addition, they have played together as a forward line two more times this year, in which Cristal won one and drew the other. If we add it all up, in 10 games they have earned three points on seven occasions and only drew in the remaining three, making them an offensive trio that has never lost with the celestial team.
If we look at the number of goals scored in the games where they started as starters, the three of them scored 14 out of the 23 goals, being the top scorer the Brazilian '9' with 8 goals, followed by Hohberg with five and Grimaldo with the remaining one.
Hohberg - Brenner - Grimaldo's matches
- Sporting Cristal 2-0 Cantolao | Round 1 Apertura | one goal from Brenner
- Deportivo Municipal 1-1 Sporting Cristal | Round 10 Apertura
- Sporting Cristal 1-0 The Strongest | Round 3 Copa Libertadores
- UTC 1-1 Sporting Cristal | Round 15 Apertura
- Unión Comercio 1-6 Sporting Cristal | Round 2 Apertura | one goal from Brenner and two from Hohberg
- Sporting Cristal 3-2 Cusco | Round 16 Apertura | two goals from Brenner and one from Hohberg
- Sporting Cristal 4-2 Cienciano | Round 18 Apertura | one goal from Brenner and two from Hohberg
- The Strongest 1-2 Sporting Cristal | Round 5 Copa Libertadores | one goal from Brenner
- Cantolao 0-2 Sporting Cristal | Round 1 Clausura | one goal from Grimaldo and Brenner
- Fluminense 1-1 Sporting Cristal | Round 6 Copa Libertadores | one goal from Brenner
Tiago Nunes would not use them together from the start against Unión Comercio
Sporting Cristal has a great opportunity to continue being one of the leaders of the Clausura Tournament when they host Unión Comercio on Sunday, July 2 at 1:00 pm at the Alberto Gallardo Stadium. Tiago Nunes has allegedly decided to only use Hohberg from the start while Brenner and Grimaldo will wait for their chance on the bench.