Hasta El Gol Siempre

So, it’s four up and four down between Primera A and Nacional B after all. Olimpo de Bahía Blanca, San Martín de San Juan and Huracán had all already claimed their places in next season’s top flight, and now the turnaround is complete after Tigre beat Nueva Chicago 2-1 away in Mataderos to record a 3-1 aggregate win.

26 years after they were last in Primera A, Tigre have won the fifth promotion in their history and will be entertaining the big boys down on the river delta next season. Tigre played intelligent football thanks to their manager, Diego Cagna, whilst Chicago also had some very handy players, and took the same approach which won them the game in Rosario against Newell’s to earn them the right to play off in the first place.

Diego Castaño broke the deadlock, scoring for the visitors in the 34th minute, but still two goals would keep Chicago up - in the event of a draw in these playoffs, the team already in Primera A keep their place. That hope was killed off 7 minutes into the second half, when Matias Galmarini ran onto a bouncing through-ball and smacked a stupendous volley past Navarro Montoya in the Chicago goal. Minutes later, Federico Higuaín - older brother of Gonzalo - gave the home side some hope, but it wasn’t to be. Tigre kept control, and won a penalty as the game entered stoppage time. It was never taken, after home fans invaded the pitch and the game was ended early, but the result stands.

In the riots which followed from the Chicago sympathisers, one fan - a 41-year-old Tigre supporter - was killed after being hit on the head by a flying stone. In total there were 14 injuries and (perhaps encouragingly given the authorities’ normally lax attitude) 78 arrests. Tigre enter Primera A with one fan fewer, but Chicago certainly didn’t make any friends for the manner of their exit.

Goals (Nueva Chicago 1 - 2 Tigre):

Castaño: Chicago 0 - 1 Tigre (34th min)

Galmarini: Chicago 0 - 2 Tigre (52nd min)

Higuaín: Chicago 1 - 2 Tigre (55th min)