Gimnasia La Plata saw off Tigre 2-1 in the Clausura round eight of Argentina's professional league at the Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo on Friday evening. The result keeps the hosts in sixth place while Tigre remain tenth, though both sides have played sixteen games now.
And here's the thing about this match — it was decided in moments rather than sustained pressure. Fernández missed a penalty at the quarter-hour, and Tigre thought they'd found an equaliser when Russo struck at fifty minutes. But Conti's late goal in stoppage time, followed by Auzmendi's penalty for Gimnasia, turned the game on its head.
We'd given this one to the hosts at 45 per cent confidence, and it came good. Not because Gimnasia were the better side for most of the ninety minutes, but because they were sharper when it mattered. By then, Tigre had already thrown on Lopez Grobin for Leyes Sosa at the hour mark, and the substitution pattern told you something about nerves setting in.
The statistics paint an uneven picture. Gimnasia created three big chances and hit 2.76 expected goals from their seven shots on target, while Tigre managed just one big chance and 1.23 expected goals despite having more possession. Many shots with one goal means chances went begging, and that's what Tigre found themselves doing.
Gimnasia now move into a stronger position domestically, sitting eight points clear of Tigre. The hosts have won three of their last five games, while Tigre's recent run includes two draws and a loss — they're running out of games to make up ground.
