Quito –
“I don’t have to look at whether I qualify or not (at the Copa Libertadores in 2021); I have to ask them to play well (their students at the Catholic University) and look for victory. I don’t give anyone a football match, “Colombian coach Santiago Escobar, annoyed, said on Tuesday about the comments that the Quito club would not want to beat Barcelona this Sunday, in the closing of the second stage of the LigaPro 2020 championship. .
Coach Católica was categorical about the facilities of the duel against the bulls at the Atahualpa Olympic Stadium: “Imagine that I say it is convenient to lose. I’d rather retire from football than play a game. “
Escobar’s vehement speech, delivered earlier this week, is based on calculations that a Catholic victory over Barcelona would leave the capital out of the Libertadores and send them to the 2021 South American Cup, the second most important club tournament organized by CONMEBOL.
Less tense, Escobar said last Thursday what is next for Católica at the end of the campaign: “Now is the time to think about finishing the season well. Today we are in the Copa Libertadores area and we will go out to play for what we always do, which is to play football. We logically want that position to be in phase 3 of Libertadores (preliminary round). And if we are in that situation, until the last game, it is because we have savings. (Those) savings were made in a great first round that we did “in the LigaPro tournament.
This was stated yesterday at a press conference by Professor Santiago “Sachi” Escobar. pic.twitter.com/Mfiruwj0NS
– PANCHO MOLESTINA (@fmolestinae) December 18, 2020
The radio Bag the coffee coach said: “It would be nice to be able to give our management and our fans a return to Libertadores. We are 90 minutes away from returning to that tournament after 41 years and after a second stage full of adversity “.
Católica has a crossroads rarely seen in football: the undefeated rival will bring him more benefits. In the final, in which the Liga de Quito awaits a rival, it will be defined which team will be Ecuador 1 (champion) and which will be Ecuador 2 (second) for the draw for the group stage of the Copa Libertadores. The other two places for the country, for the preliminary rounds of the traditional international tournament – which distributes better economic prizes than those in South America and generate more expectations – will be allocated to the next two teams best placed in the table accumulated after taking into account the Representatives 1 and 2.
In general, Católica will be the fourth Ecuadorian representative, after the Liga de Quito, Barcelona and Independiente. But if Emelec, who receives Olmedo this Sunday, fulfills his mission to reach the final (for which he needs a victory for Católica over Barcelona), he will automatically get a direct share in the maximum competition of Conmebol and that i -would make it move. Ecuador’s representations as dominoes: Barcelona, second in the accumulated table, and Independiente del Valle, third, would be Ecuador 3 and Ecuador 4, respectively, leaving Catholic (fourth in the accumulated) outside that distribution, with a quota in the South. American as a consolation prize. (D)