José Paradela could not continue after a hard collision with Adalberto Carrasquilla and left the match at 35 minutes with pain in his hip and the left side of his thigh. The play at Estadio Olímpico Universitario quickly set off controversy on social media, where many viewers questioned the force of Carrasquilla’s challenge.
The incident came after Robert Morales scored and before Paradela was forced off, a sequence that changed the rhythm of the Vuelta de la Final. Toro Fernández entered in his place, while the match was still waiting for the second half and the impact of the loss was already clear.
That made the scene especially notable for Pumas, because Carrasquilla had been a doubt for the match before being included in the starting lineup. In the first leg, he had begun on the bench, but for the return he was back in the starting eleven and involved immediately in a play that became one of the night’s main talking points.
Paradela’s exit did more than add another injury concern. It altered Joel Huiqui’s plan with 45 minutes still to play, forcing a change that came at a moment when the game was already under strain. The timing mattered too: the foul-like contact, the goal by Morales and the injury to Paradela arrived in quick succession, leaving little room for the team to settle before the match turned.
What is left now is less about the immediate result of one collision than about how it will be judged. Carrasquilla’s return to the lineup after being a doubt helped shape the opening stretch, but the contact that sent Paradela off will likely be the play that defines the night for anyone who watched it. For Paradela, the concern is the extent of the muscle discomfort that cut his match short; for Pumas, the question is how much the adjustment forced by his exit affected the rest of the final.
