Nacional aims to overcome Superliga final disappointment

Bogota Feb 9 (IANS) Colombian football club Atletico Nacional will look to recover from a bitter defeat at home against Millonarios when it hosts Independiente Santa Fe in a much-anticipated second-round match on Saturday.

Medellin-based Nacional is facing a disgruntled fan base after losing 1-2 on Wednesday night (and 1-2 on aggregate) to Bogota club Millonarios at Atanasio Girardot Stadium in the final of the 2018 Superliga Colombiana reports Efe.

The Superliga pits the winners of the previous year s Apertura and Finalizacion tournaments who square off in a two-leg clash in January and early February.

The Medellin club whose president Andres Botero resigned on Thursday in the wake of the defeat is the most successful club in Colombia s football league with 16 titles one more than Millonarios.

On Saturday Argentine head coach Jorge Almiron may have the services of 33-year-old creative midfielder Macnelly Torres whose expected move to Santa Fe fell through after he resolved his difficulties with the Medellin club.

Torres return is expected to give a boost to Nacional which played without the midfielder in both of its Superliga games and in its unconvincing 1-0 victory on Sunday over Tolima in the first round of the new Apertura tournament.

Santa Fe for its part comes into Saturday s match after putting on a poor performance at home in the first round against Tunja-based club Patriotas.

Uruguayan head coach Gregorio Perez needs a player to fill the shoes of Argentine attacking midfielder Omar Perez who has left Santa Fe after a nine-year stint in which the team won nine titles

That search continues after the Bogota club was unable to land Torres.

--IANS
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