La Equidad, Deportivo Cali and Cucuta Deportivo are the final three teams to have secured a spot in the play-offs of the Colombian Liga Postobon.
With just three remaining spots left to play for on Saturday, a lot was at stake for many teams. Only Once Caldas, Deportes Tolima, Atletico Nacional, Envigado and Millonarios were already certain of advancing to the quarter finals.
La Equidad hosted Deportes Quindio in Bogota and only needed a 30th-minute goal from Roberto Polo to secure the victory that takes them to fifth place. The only bad news for La Equidad is that Dager Palacios received a straight red card and will as such miss the first quarter final game. Quindio finish in tenth position as result of this defeat.
Deportivo Cali earned a convincing 4-1 win at Atletico Huila and finish the regular season in seventh place. Diego Alvarez, Luis Calderon, Gabriel Fernandez and Andres Escobar scored to lead their side to the quarter finals. Henry Rojas netted Huila’s only goal.
The top eight is completed by Cucuta Deportivo, who beat Boyaca Chico 1-0 thanks to a dramatic 87th-minute goal from Donald Millan, who made no mistake from the penalty spot. Had the match finished in a draw, it would have been Boyaca Chico to qualify instead. Now, the Tunja side finish in ninth place.
Itagüi Ditaires spent most of the season in the top eight but dropped down the ranks in the last few weeks. A 3-1 defeat at Atletico Nacional on Saturday was the final verdict. Carlos Renteria and Edwin Cardona (2) scored for Nacional, while only Nestor Salazar found the target for Itagüi.
In other games, Envigado beat Deportivo Pereira 2-0, America de Cali lost 3-2 to Deportes Tolima, Santa Fe finished their season with a 1-0 win over Cartagena, Junior defeat Millonarios 3-2 and Once Caldas were too strong for Medellin, 1-0.
The quarter final stage starts on Wednesday, May 25th, with the return legs taking place four days later. These are the four ties:
Millonarios vs. Once Caldas
Cucuta vs. Tolima
Cali vs. Nacional
La Equidad vs. Envigado