The Least Balanced Rivalry in the World

In an absolutely great position all around, keep up the good work

Very nice run in the Copa that, hope you can take Gimnasia all the way and win it! And the performance in the league also looks very solid!

Brilliant performance in both the Libertadores and the league, even in the league you're just short of Boca if you win your extra match, so the title race is on!

Also the match with Gremio will be something else! If you win it Gimnasia will establish even firmly as one of the most prospective teams in South America!

Great job!

Note: scroll slowly, so you can read it moment by moment.

TO ALL FANS WHO LIVE AND LOVE THE INTENSITY OF FOOTBALL, A WARM WELCOME TO ASUNCIÓN! My name is Valentín Hernández and I'm with my colleague and friend Francisco Bermúdez here at the Defensores del Chaco to bring you all another La Plata FM transmission! Today, FINAL DE COPA, Gimnasia against Grêmio!

VH: Cisco, what can you tell us about those two teams?

FB: Well, Tín, I can tell a lot! Grêmio are the frank favorites for this encounter: they have more money, they have more valuable players, they have more tradition. But please don't think that it is gonna be easy. On the other side we have a Gimnasia that is playing the Copa Libertadores as current champions of Argentina, even though they don't hold this title anymore.

VH: And how about the momentum, Cisco, what can we tell about the moment those teams are living?

FB: Good question, Tín. Morale play a huge role in finals, and both teams are coming with the morale high up. Grêmio has defeated Flamengo at the semifinals winning in the legendary Maracanã after getting a draw at their Arena. On the other hand, Gimnasia reverted a disadvantage against Atlético Nacional playing excellent football.

VH: Always excellent and precise, my friend Cisco, señoras y señores! And the teams are coming to the pitch! Play the song!


VH: And both hinchadas make a warm welcome to the their teams, Cisco! Shredded paper and smoke everywhere! Let's go now for the line-ups of the two teams!


VH: A very mobile line-up for Grêmio, Cisco!

FB: Sure thing, Tín! A rapid attacking 4 with a mobile false nine and pacey wingers! Jean Pyerre is the one to watch with his capacity of combining athletic skills and technique. Eyes also on the youngster Gui Azevedo, making his first season with Grêmio. His dribbling skills and pace can put Gimnasia's left defenders to cry.

VH: And Gimnasia comes a little bit different than usual, Cisco. Care to elaborate?

FB: Of course! San Esteban has abandoned his 4-2-3-1 passing game for today and decided more for a 4-1-4-1 shaped counter-attacking football. He understands the limitations that his squad have in comparison with their rivals, and he's shaping up accordingly. But that is a risky tactic, Tín. If they concede early, they will have to reshape their formation to try to get something back from the game.

0'
VH: Alex Teixeira rolls the ball, we are underway!

7'
VH: Gui Azevedo tries to look for space in the right wing, tight spaces there. Jean Pyerre. Back to Gui Azevedo. That's a free kick, Bindella held Gui Azevedo there. Yup, the referee calls a foul and that's a good opportunity for Grêmio on a set piece.
Ismael goes for the lofted ball, the ball goes over for a free-kick. Salcedo is complaining a lot in there, what's that for?

FB: The VAR is calling the ref, Tín.

VH: THE VAR IS CALLING THE REF! He's going to the screen! HE DOESN'T HAVE TO LOOK TWICE, IT'S A PENALTY!

8'
VH: It's gonna be Jean Pyerre against Gómez Riga. Jean Pyerre waits for the ref to authorize the kick. He whistles! IT'S JEAN PYERRE AGAINST GÓMEZ RIGA, ON THE BALL! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ES DE GRÊMIO! Jean Pyerre sends it to the right corner, the goalkeeper jumps to the left and he will barely be at the picture in the newspapers tomorrow!

FB: Well, Tín, that is what I was afraid. An early goal and now San Esteban looks like a fool. His defensive approach was not fool proof and now it's worth nothing.

10'
VH: Gui Azevedo again. Bindella on him. He's got it clean now, MAYBE WITH THE COUNTER-ATTACK! BINDELLA RUNS WITH IT DOWN THE LEFT FLANK, he opens to Ianni. Ianni invites Carlos Alberto to dance, WHAT A SKILL! HE GOES FOR THE TIP OF THE BOX, ROLLHEISER IS THERE!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL QUEEEEEEEEEEE ES DE GIMNASIA! ROLLHEISER SHOWS UP IN THE FAR POST AND BURIES IT IN! TWO MINUTES AFTER CONCEDING, GIMNASIA GET THE TIE BACK!

FB: FORGET MY WORDS EARLIER, WHAT A MOMENT! GIMNASIA GETS BACK IN THE GAME RIGHT AFTER STARTING ON THE BACK FOOT! Excellent fast counter-attack and Gastón Ianni, the wonderboy, finds an inch perfect cross to the short Rollheiser who only had to cushion it in!

11'
VH: Well, it's 1-1! And Grêmio have already lost the ball from kick-o-TAKE A LOOK AT THAT, ROLLHEISER IS GOING ALONE, HE CHOPS IT TO THE INSIDE FOOT!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL QUEEEEEEEEEEE ES DE GIMNASIA! INCREÍBLE, CISCO, INCREÍBLE!!!! WHAT A START, WHAT A START! ROLLHEISER SLIDES IT HOME, WHAT A SHOT! WHAT AN EVERYTHING! THREE MINUTES LATER OF CONCEDING AN EARLY GOAL, GIMNASIA TURN IT AROUND! QUE REMONTADA!

FB: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I DON'T BELIEVE IT! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! NOW GIMNASIA HAS 79 MINUTES OF DEFENSIVE FOOTBALL TO PLAY! I'M SORRY FOR BEING AN IGNORANT PEASANT, JORGE SAN ESTEBAN! YOU KNOW IT ALL! FORGIVE MY IGNORANCE BEFORE YOU, MY LORD!

VH: Any technical comments on the goal, Cisco?

FB: NO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BAMO GIMNASIA! ADELANTE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

19'
VH: Ianni looks for a space, Caraballo gets to it, WHAT ABOUT THAT FOR A ONE-TWO! IANNI, TO MAKE IT THREE! NOOOOOOooooooo... he made it so easy to the keeper... Gatito walks away with it.

45+1'
VH: And the ref whistles for half-time!

Half-time comments
FB: with a brilliant start, Gimnasia managed to concede and turn it around within three minutes. For Grêmio, that is the quickest bottling I've ever seen. For Gimnasia, what a fantastic way to get it started. After Rollheiser made it 2-1 you could see the apathy on Grêmio's players. They tried to work the ball and find spaces, but didn't manage to create a single chance. Gimnasia has been defending solidly.

45'
VH: Caraballo on it, the match is restarted!

63'
VH: Well, it's been going around for a while now. Grêmio look for a space, don't find it, give it back to the defenders. And now they lost it! Bindella again, what a match from the left back. He sends it aaaaall the way over to the right wing. Rollheiser. WHAT A THROUGH BALL TOWARDS CARABALLO, HE'S ALONE WITH GATITO, A TAP IN!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL QUEEEEEEEEEEE ES DE GIMNASIA! KHALIL CARABALLO, YOU HAVE NO HEART! A COLD-BLOODED FINISH ALONE WITH THE KEEPER AFTER LETHAL COUNTER-ATTACKING FOOTBALL!

FB: IT'S OVER NOW! IT'S OVER! THE GREMISTAS WERE ALREADY STRUGGLING FOR ANY WILLPOWER AND NOW GIMNASIA ADDED ONE MORE! IT'S OVER, TÍN, MARK MY WORDS. I HAVE TO GET AT LEAST ONE RIGHT TONIGHT!

84'
VH: Ianni with the corner.
What a poor delivery, and now Grêmio has a counter-attack with Pedro Lucas, AND HE GOES UNMARKED! MARKING COMES ONLY NOW, HE OPENS TO CUFRÉ, TO SHOOT, TO GET ONE BACK!
GÓMEZ RIGA!!!!!!!!!
GÓMEZ RIGA STOPS A CERTAIN GOAL!

89'
VH: Only now San Esteban makes his first substitution. Malo comes out, Sforza goes in.

90'
VH: And now he's gonna keep doing that, innit? Another substitution, Ianni comes out, Chávez goes in.

90+2'
VH: Last Gimnasia's substitution, Rollheiser gets the applauses, yes, yes! THEY APPLAUD HIM! Tijanovich comes in.

90+4'
VH: IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER! GIMNASIA WIN THE COPA LIBERTADORES! AFTER THIRTEEN YEARS AWAY FROM IT! AFTER SEEING THEIR RIVALS GETTING FOUR OF THEM WHILST THEY NEVER MADE IT PAST THE GROUP STAGE! THE AGONY IS OVER, HINCHADA DEL LOBO! CELEBRATE! YOU DESERVE IT!

VH: My name is Valentín Hernández, and it's been a pleasure being with you!

Competition Review / Dream Team de la Copa Libertadores / Best Player / Clean Sheet Record / Goal Scoring Record
Winning Tactic / Fans worship San Esteban / Medals

Replies

@ScottT yes, we're growing stronger as league contenders. And for the Copa, well... it's history now.

@Jack the transition football payed huge dividends!

@Griffo thx buddy

@Zed I can't even believe it all turned out so well in the Copa hahaha

@OneMoreGame the title is on, no doubt about that!

and exactly that, now everyone knows us!

Congrats! Massive result and your team is now a force that everybody should respect!

Really successful story, good job!

Congratulations!

Felicidades! Gimnasia, Campeón de la Copa Libertadores!

Incredible stuff! Huge congratulations! I want Cisco to be commentating prem games! Bit of energy into it all

What a whirlwind 3 minutes between the 8th and 11th minute! Rollheiser made it look easy! Huge congratulations on this victory and now you can change the title of the story - the least balanced rivalry has now become more than balanced in your favour

CHAMPIONNNNNSSSS!!!

The title in the Copa Libertadores brought some piece of mind for the Basureros. Many jokes are over. Other jokes had to change. Of course, the Pincharratas still have 3 Copas more, and the World Cup that we will play in a very different and much harder format, but 1 Copa Libertadores is an infinity more than no Copa. The jokes about Gimnasia being a virgin team are over. The jokes about Gimnasia being a continental virgin are over. Ganamos la América, boludo.

Now we still have to face jokes in the sort of "we have 4, you have only 1" or "virgin in the Copa Argentina" which, honestly, is a huge downgrade. Although this Copa situation is indeed starting to bug me, how the f*** can't we reach the semifinals on that s***.

Transfers

Better late than never, money finally flew in. The board decided to stop sitting on a pile of cash and decide to let me play with it for a little. And we had our fun. Players came in and went out, and we are stronger for the rest of the season.

In

ST - Gonzalo Higuaín, 34: with a sharp physical decline, the veteran strike is coming back to his home country in order to end his career. We had him for a 6 month contract, and he will retire after this season;
GK - Percy Malpartida, 18 - one more player for the Peruvian crew, the young keeper is a gem. Many say that he's set to be the best goalkeeper in the history of Peruvian football;
ST - Sebá Rodríguez, 19: after a year negotiating with Newell's the young striker finally had enough and decided to request his transfer. He's an excellent dribbler, but his finishing skills will have to be object for a very specific training regimen;
DM - Victor Bobsin, 21: injuries have being in the way of this promising talent and Grêmio had enough of it. Now it's our time to try to give Bobsin a career that he's promised to have.
RB - Agustín Sosa, 22: after Torrent's sharp decline, we had to go for another right back. Agustín was a very promising player, but spending his first years playing on the lower levels have slowed his development down.
CB - Carlos Sucari, 19: to substitute the departed Marlon Torres, we went for youth. And that's the only option available, as there is a gap of talented defenders in Argentine football. Sucari, however, will be one of the best.
CB - Bruno Amione, 24: Bruno has the quality to be a starter at any club in Argentina, except here. He will be a solid replacement for any injured defenders.

Out

Well, China came strong for Marlon and we had to let him go. We made some other good sells, such as the deals for Comba and Cuadra, who were not expecting to see much of football at Gimnasia. And Bruno Vides, well, maybe in a next story we can talk about what happened.

Superliga Argentina 2022/23 - Second Semester

Jan-Apr


May


A calendar so big it didn't fit on my screen. We had a good run with just a couple of defeats, but losing against Huracán didn't help my title fight. We could fight back and have our fun, however, with big wins, such as the 5-1 over All Boys, the madness against Racing Club, and the dominant win at the Clásico. We have also beaten both the two Buenos Aires' giants, having an outstanding second half against River and grabbing a very tight win over Boca. The fiasco at Chacarita or the loss against San Lorenzo ended up not being that of a tragedy after that.

San Esteban's Clásico count: 5-4-1

Superliga Argentina 2022/23 - Final Standings

We got it again, honey, show some respect. Boca had a massive drop in form and we took over from the middle of the season onwards. Huracán tried to pose as a menace, but they are just Huracán, and slowly started to fade away from my neck. Kudos to Belgrano, who had a very surprising 4th display, and the only team that actually surprised anyone. Us? Pffff, I knew we could do it.

Season Review / Higuaín's marketing results / Malo wins Best Player / Fans ecstatic with San Esteban

Copa Argentina 2023 - 5th Round

Well, finally we had some sort of win. A 2-0 against Alvarado sees us going to the 6th Round.

Recopa Sudamericana 2023

The Recopa Sudamericana is what you guys would call a continental supercup. Gimnasia faced the Copa Sudamericana champions, San Lorenzo, in order to add another piece of silverware to the trophy room.

In the first leg, we hammered them, but didn't manage to find a goal. Lots of yellow cards and no good football.

It all went down to the second leg, at La Plata, where Bauzá opened the scoreline at the 39th minute. Ianni tried to blow our chances by being sent off at the 47th minute, but his substitute Lautaro Chávez managed to get another one in a quick counter-attack. When Quaranta got one back from the Boedo side, it was too late. Another trophy to the trophy room.

Copa Libertadores 2023

When one is done, the other is just around the corner. This time we got a far more difficult group, with the Uruguayans of Peñarol, the Colombians of Junior Barranquilla, and Grêmio, who would certainly look forward to get a revenge on us.

The first three games has seen us to the minimal. A solid 3-0 victory over Peñarol at home, a tight 0-1 defeat against Grêmio in Porto Alegre, and a hard fought 2-1 win over Junior in Barranquilla. At this moment we were second with 6 points, 1 point short of the leaders Grêmio, who dropped some points in Montevideo.

The small hiccup that Grêmio had means that with can win the group by winning the last three games. Of course it's easier said than done, but we did our job by beating Junior 3-0 at Juan Carmelo Zerillo. The game against Grêmio would be crucial to decide the group winner, and a marvelous free kick from Gastón Ianni put us in the lead with a 1-0 win. All we had to do was beat Peñarol in the very stadium where Grêmio dropped their points. Fortunately, the lads delivered some inspired performances and we got a 4-1 win. This win won us the group, but Grêmio have dropped more points against Junior, this time at home.


In our run of meeting old acquaintances, we'll be facing Atlético Nacional at the second round.

Around the world

In the end, a surprising 2023 season in continental football. Gimnasia won the Libertadores, San Lorenzo won the Sudamericana - which is not exactly a surprise - and Chelsea was brought back to life somehow.

In Argentina, the only surprise is the promotion of Defensores de Belgrano, who will be ready to get back to Primera B next season. No big surprises around South America, with the least predictable result being Melgar's title in Peru.

In Europe, Inter got the scudetto back and Bayer Leverkusen will finally be able to drop the pejorative Neverkusen nickname.

Replies

@OneMoreGame after more than a hundred years of humiliation, finally some joy

@ScottT thanks!

@MLScout ¡POR DIÓS, BOLUDO, FINALMENTE!

@TheLFCFan professional contacts inbox please

@Jack I have myself gone to "yeah, whatever" to "OMG OMG OMG" in a couple of seconds. And well, Estudiantes has still the World Cup, 3 Libertadores and 4 Superligas more than us and the Cup, so we are still faaaar away

@Griffo YEAH!

You progressed in the cup! Haha, seriously congratulations on winning the title for a second time. It has been magnificent to follow how you have seemingly revolutionised this perennial bridesmaid into the bride and more. There's some work to go to reduce the deficit in silverware when compared to Estudiantes but you're up for the challenge, I bet.

Your win rate in the Clasico is something of beauty, never mind completely taking apart the league! Could it be two in a row with that storming Group Stage performance?!

They may still have a few trophies over you but the tables are turning and turning quickly. Congrats on another league title, brilliant stuff.

Starting to get more and more funds to put into players, time to build and become the super power of the division