In the opening duel of round 31 of the Betclic League, Arouca came close to beating Gil Vicente (2-2) on the trip to the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, but let the double advantage slip in the middle of stoppage time, after an electrifying final stretch from Tozé Marreco’s men, in a duel that marked the Gilista helmsman’s debut in home games. It was time to exclaim: “Crosses, what is this?”, faced with such a recovery.
After putting an end to the series of seven consecutive games without winning in his debut at the helm of the Roosters, Tozé Marreco opted for the same eleven in relation to the game against Moreirense. Daniel Sousa – returning to a stadium he knows well – introduced Matías Rocha to the defensive axis and launched Thiago Rodrigues in view of the surprising absence of de Arruabarrena.
Honored before the match, Murillo saw his goal disallowed @Catarina Morais / Kapta +
After about ten initial minutes of divided football and without much reason to highlight it, Arouca put its football into practice. With priority given to the organized attack, the Lobos de Arouca agreed to an authentic offer from Gabriel Pereira, still in the opening quarter of an hour.
A loss of the ball by the Brazilian central defender in a prohibited zone left Cristo González in Andrew’s face, earning the attention and spotting timing of the Brazilian under-23 international. When reloading, Jason Remeseiro did the most difficult thing and, with the goal empty in front of him, shot against… the advertising board.
In the next move, an offside by Fujimoto prevented Félix Correia from achieving the first “official” situation for the Minho team, in a period in which attacks were becoming increasingly rare for the Gilistas. Work of excellent collective coordination from Arouquense and impeccable readings by David Simão and Pedro Santos.
At the half-hour mark and given the slight fading of Arouquense’s momentum, Gil became more capable of taking part in some outings and almost opened the game. Maxime Domínguez came out of the «phone booth», launching Félix Correia, Fujimoto and Alipour in the «conspiracy» towards Thiago Rodrigues’ goal, which Murilo – in the 250th game of his career – missed on the post.
Until the break, Arouca was close to the advantage. David Simão opted for mid-range (with little success) and Rafa Mujica was (slightly) centimeters away from the goal after a center in the width given by Jason. Gil responded with increasing use of depth, Murilo opened the game after a strong recovery from the Gil players, but an irregular position postponed his debut on the scoreboard.
When the match started again, the visitors reactivated the chip from the initial moments of the match, imposed difficulties on the gilists and the goal was soon achieved. Short corner to the right, wide cross from Jason and immaculate finish from Cristo González to the far post, in a move in which the Spaniard was free from marking by the then injured Gabriel Pereira.
Soon after, Jason threatened the 0-2 and, with no time to waste, Tozé Marreco brought on Martim Neto, Miro and Tidjany Touré who, immediately, made Félix Correia drift to the right. With the wingers in «flanking mode», Gil verticalized his game, gained another ability to reach the final third – the goal disallowed against Depú is great proof of this – and made the Barcelona public despair with the mistake on goal.
At that time, the Minho team made their fans believe, but, in another moment of Christ, it seemed to put a cross on the final result. However, the Minho heart was gigantic and, in an instant, the points became real.
Tidjany Touré reduced the score with a beautiful cross shot in added time, turning the Gilista amphitheater into a true volcano and the equalizer came just moments later: Launched on the edge of offside by Fujimoto, Buatu confirmed the final result with a finish worthy of the tip of spear.
