Nacional saw off Cerro-Largo 2-0 in the eighth round of the Clausura phase of the Uruguayan Primera - Apertura at Estadio Arquitecto Antonio Eusebio Uribelarrea on Friday evening. The visitors moved closer to the summit, while Cerro-Largo remain rooted in eleventh place after twenty-nine games.
T. Correa opened the scoring in the thirty-first minute, but the visitors did not have to wait long for a second. M. Gomez doubled the lead just six minutes after the break, and by then the visitors had stretched the back line enough to see the game out. Cerro-Largo pushed but could not turn things on.
There were several changes around the hour mark, with Cerro-Largo bringing on three players at once — M. Garcia, A. Martinez and M. Silvera — and Nacional responding with A. Pandiani in the sixty-third minute. N. Rodriguez received a yellow card in the nineteenth minute, and A. de Luca was booked just before the hour. Two more yellows came in stoppage time, one for N. Bertocchi and another at 90 plus one.
and here's the thing — we had called for an away win before kick-off, with 54 per cent confidence. The prediction came true, though not without Cerro-Largo making things uncomfortable in patches. The visitors never got going early, but the quality showed when it mattered.
Both sides registered 121 and 125 attacks respectively, while possession sat at 50-50. Cerro-Largo finished with nine shots off target and two on, Nacional seven off and three on. The visitors took fewer corners, three to seven, but converted their chances with greater efficiency.
Nacional move to fifth place with 46 points, eight clear of Cerro-Largo in eleventh on 33. The visitors had won four of their last five across all competitions before Friday, while Cerro-Largo have only lost one of their last five at home. The gap remains, and the visitors are still out for the season in terms of the title race.
