Universitario Beats Alianza Lima 2-1 in Clásico as Alzugaray Pounces on Duarte's Stoppage-Time Blunder

By the 96th minute, it already felt like a happy ending for Alianza Lima. The blue and white side had fought hard, pulled level, and even dreamed of completing the comeback in the closing minutes. But soccer, once again, has a habit of punishing you right when it seems like nothing else is going to happen.

Universitario walked away with the clásico by a score of 2-1 in the Torneo Clausura, in a finish that Matute would rather not replay in its head. It all started with a long ball from César Inga looking for Alex Valera, who got a step ahead of Renzo Garcés and knocked it forward. The loose ball fell to Gianfranco Chávez, and that's where the trouble began.

Chávez lost his connection with goalkeeper Alejandro Duarte and headed the ball back to him, a gesture that ended up being a trap for his own net. Duarte was left completely out of position, and Lisandro Alzugaray barely had to tap it in to seal the final 2-1. A goal built between two Alianza players, on a play that fell into Universitario's lap right in stoppage time.

If blame has to be split between Chávez and Duarte, it leans toward the goalkeeper. The defender misread the situation, sure, but it was Duarte who couldn't handle what, while awkward, wasn't an impossible situation for an experienced keeper to control.

How Duarte Became the Starter

Duarte's path to the Alianza goal has its own backstory. Everything sped up with the injury to Guillermo Vizcarra, right as the Bolivian goalkeeper was preparing for the playoff with his national team. Duarte started getting minutes, earned Pablo Guede's trust, and not long after, Vizcarra ended up terminating his contract with the club. Since then, Duarte has been the undisputed starter, without any real competition beyond a few young prospects who are still far from challenging him for the spot.

The problem is that, beyond a handful of standout saves here and there, the 31-year-old goalkeeper never quite had that signature performance to win over the fans. The clásico was, in many ways, his big showcase to prove he could hold down the goal in the most demanding moments. And it slipped away from him in the worst possible way.

With this fresh in everyone's mind, it's no surprise that talk has already started at Alianza about the future between the posts heading into the 2027 season. International matches tend to demand another level of support, and mistakes like the one in the clásico end up carrying more weight than they should in those conversations.

For Universitario, meanwhile, the result carries enormous value in the fight for the Clausura: three points that came the hard way, almost handed to them in the final moments, but that count exactly the same in the standings as any other win.