Alianza Lima: Carlos Bustos spoke about the present of the 'intimates' in Liga 1 and the Copa Libertadores group

Alianza Lima is the reigning champion of Liga 1. However, this season he is not doing well at all, as he has barely scored 5 points in 6 games, so he needs to improve in football so as not to stay on the road and fight for the title. In that sense, coach Carlos Bustos talked about the present of his team and what is coming to him in the 2022 Copa Libertadores.

“We are working to arrive in the best conditions. The team has lost a bit of defensive strength and offensive strength, but we are looking to resume our best version”, commented the DT in an interview for the club's digital magazine.

And it is that the 'blue whites' have scored 8 goals so far in the national championship, losing 3 times and adding only 6 scores. Totally different figures to what was shown last year, when they lost only 2 games in the year (to Sporting Cristal), being the least beaten defense in the league. Therefore, the coach emphasized defensive and offensive work in training, in order to refine the team for what is next. Precisely, he played practice matches against Alfonso Ugarte, Alianza Universidad and Deportivo Coopsol, so he will arrive with shooting on the return of the tournament after the stop for the Playoffs.

COPA LIBERTADORES

One of the championships he will have to face is the Copa Libertadores, where he has not done well with the negative streak of 23 games without winning and they will seek to compete in the best way. “The Cup is a challenge and the demand that the team must make is to qualify for a next instance, either as one of the clubs that go to the round of 16 or entering the Copa Sudamericana as third in the group. The fundamental thing will be to measure ourselves as equals and achieve results,” he said.

The group that has touched the 'Victorians' is the F, where there are also River Plate from Argentina, Colo-Colo from Chile and Fortaleza from Brazil. He had words about each one, making it clear that he would be one of the strongest groups in the cup. “For us it is an extra motivation to integrate an area where River Plate is , a team that in recent years has been fighting up all the tournaments and that has been the protagonist playing good football. Then there is Colo-Colo, another good team with a lot of tradition and that is joined to Alianza Lima by a great brotherhood. I think it will be the first time that Alianza and Colo-Colo have met in the Copa Libertadores, so it will be a special moment for both of them. And finally there is Fortaleza, a club that finished among the top places for Brasileirao, which gives a guideline of the difficulty that can generate for the other squares of the key. It is probably one of the strongest groups, due to the quality of the teams that make it up, but we are going to give our best”, he added.

Without a doubt, it is not a simple group at all, taking into account the strength of the Argentine team, added to the competitiveness of the Chilean team. The Brazilian squad, although not renowned, will not be an accessible rival, since last season it finished in fourth position, ahead of other greats such as Corinthians, Fluminense, Santos, Sao Paulo and Inter.

MATCH FOLLOW-UP

Similarly, facing two competitions at the same time will give you the opportunity to make rotations in the team and several players have the option to show themselves. “It's a big challenge we have. In two months we will face 18 matches, between Liga 1 and Libertadores, so many players will have the opportunity to show themselves and help us achieve results,” he said.

This will be the chance for players who didn't have much continuity such as Darlin Leiton, Jonathan Medina, Sebastián Cavero, Mauricio Matzuda, among others, to fill Bustos's eyes to add more minutes with the first team.

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