Sixteen minutes had been played at Estadio Palogrande of Manizales when a shot from outside the area was extended by Wilson Carpintero to give La Equidad a 0-1 lead.
And another three minutes later, the Bogota outfit netted another. Alex Sinisterra first got past a defender and then rounded the keeper to net for 0-2, and 0-3 on aggregate.
Instead of giving up, Once Caldas got one back after another three minutes with a diagonal shot from Dayron Pérez. La Equidad reacted immediately though and Carpintero made it 1-3 in the 23rd minute.
Home fans were given new hope in the 27th minute when Ariel Carreño beat goalkeeper Bejarano for 2-3, and Once Caldas thought to have equalised minutes later but had their goal controversially disallowed.
Four minutes into the second half, referee Imer Machado sent off La Equidad’s Victor Hugo Giraldo, and from that moment the visiting side mostly focused on defense.
Once Caldas continued to attack and got their reward on 55 minutes when Johan Fano netted for 3-3. At this point, the home side needed only one more goal to force a penalty shoot-out.
But La Equidad managed to avoid further damage and secured the trophy and a valuable spot in next year’s Copa Nissan Sudamericana. Once Caldas remain empty-handed, as they didn’t reach the next phase in the Copa Mustang either.
