Amaranto Perea rips "disgraceful penalty" after Medellin's loss to Junior

Some losses sting more for how they unfold than for the final score. That's exactly what happened to Independiente Medellin at Estadio Romelio Martinez, where the club fell 2-0 to Junior in Liga BetPlay play, on a night that went sideways early and ended with a controversy still being talked about.

Things got tough for El Poderoso just 17 minutes in, when Klinger picked up a straight red card and left his team down to ten men for nearly the entire match. Playing a man down against a rival on its home turf is already a serious problem, but what came next sealed the night.

At the 70 minute mark, with the score still level at 0-0, Kevin Mantilla committed a foul inside the box on Paiva, in a play where the ball wasn't even in the picture. The referee, after a VAR review, didn't hesitate and pointed to the spot. Teo Gutierrez made no mistake from twelve yards, making it 1-0 for the Tiburon at the worst possible moment for the Antioquia side.

After the final whistle, Amaranto Perea held nothing back in his press conference. The coach went straight to Klinger's ejection and, above all, to the penalty that finished off any hope his team had left.

The match changes after the red card. He's a young player (Klinger), maybe his intensity got the better of him. The other thing is unforgivable, a penalty out of nowhere. There's not much to say about that. It has to be a lesson, that matches are complicatedAmaranto Perea

The coach was even harsher when he addressed Mantilla's play specifically, calling it "disgraceful" given the moment it happened, with his team already down a man and fighting to stay in the game.

The match changes because of the penalty, it's crazy to give away a penalty in the situation we were in, it was a foul I don't understand. The red card wasn't enough and we go and commit a disgraceful penalty, it's madness. Very hard to compete like that. We already had it tough and if on top of that we hand over what we handed over, it's hard to get anything out of the gameAmaranto Perea

Why did Mantilla come off?

One point that drew a lot of curiosity from reporters was Mantilla's substitution right after giving away the penalty. Was it a punishment for the mistake? Amaranto Perea was clear in shooting down that theory, explaining that the decision had to do with the defender's physical condition, something the staff had already been monitoring before the play.

The coach said Mantilla had been dealing with discomfort for several minutes and that the coaching staff used the only substitution they had left at that point to make the change, not wanting to risk waiting too long when they also needed that slot to freshen up the attack.

The mistake he makes is serious because it's a foul, but on top of that he'd been touching his back for several minutes. He doesn't come off as punishment for the penalty he gave away, we'd already been checking on him and asking how he felt. We had one substitution left and we used it. We weren't in a position to burn a defender's change when we could wait and freshen up the attack insteadAmaranto Perea

With the loss confirmed and the final score at 2-0, Independiente Medellin leaves Romelio Martinez with more questions than answers, while Amaranto Perea insists the blow needs to be a learning moment for what's ahead.