Liverpool Montevideo and Racing Club Montevideo played out a goalless draw in the first division Apertura, Clausura stage 7, at the Estadio Parque Alfredo Víctor Viera on Sunday evening. The result leaves both sides where they were before kick-off, with Racing still three points clear of the top four and Liverpool holding seventh place on 42 points.
And here's the thing about a 0-0 that you don't see on the scoreboard. Liverpool threw 127 attacks at the Racing goal and landed nine shots off target, but only one found the wayward side of the net. Racing, meanwhile, kept things tight and scored nothing themselves, though four of their attempts came on target. To be fair, it wasn't a match where either side was going to be punished for being cautious.
The yellow cards tell a different story from the goals. Racing collected five between them—Strasorier at 28 minutes, Varela at 74, and S. Da Silva at 82 among them—while Liverpool's Alvarez was the only one booked at 25 minutes. By then the match had settled into something more tactical than open, with Racing throwing bodies in the way whenever Liverpool tried to build anything.
The substitutions started coming at half-time when Manzur was replaced, then Racing brought on two players at 58 minutes and added Brizuela at 60. Liverpool responded with Da Silva at 72 before Racing made their final double change at 75. S. Da Silva came off for Racing at 84, a rare attacking gesture from a side that had spent 80 minutes doing nothing but defending.
The statistics are honest about what happened. Both sides had 50 per cent possession, three corners apiece, and Liverpool three offsides to Racing none. Liverpool earned 20 free kicks and 36 throw-ins; Racing had 11 free kicks and 13 goal kicks. It was a match where one team controlled the ball and the other controlled the space.
We had Liverpool on a good run coming into this one, having beaten Boston River 1-0 and Phoenix 2-0 in their last five. Racing were running out of games in terms of consistency, losing three of their last five including a 3-0 hammering by Juventud. And here's the thing we didn't see coming—neither side could find a way through.
The prediction was for a home win at 45 per cent confidence, and it didn't come to pass. But matches like this are decided before the final whistle, in the moments where both sides decide whether to risk something or protect what they have. Racing reached for their pocket after the break and changed shape, and Liverpool, who had dominated the first half, played the second half a man up but couldn't break them.
