Villegas Strikes Late to Lift Alianza Atletico, Shuffling the Lower Rungs of Peru’s Primera División

By the time the final whistle echoed across the Estadio Campeones del 36 on Sunday evening, relief and jubilation mingled in equal measure among the Alianza Atletico faithful. For much of a tense, hard-fought contest, the specter of another frustrating draw loomed over Sullana. But in the 82nd minute, José Villegas—not the season’s headline scorer, but a figure forged in the crucible of local expectation—found the finishing touch that handed his team a vital 1-0 win over Cultural Santa Rosa.

The goal, scrappy in its genesis but clinical in its conclusion, was emblematic of the match itself: a contest governed more by grit and anxiety than by the kind of fluent football that fills highlight reels. With both sides hovering precariously above the relegation zone, there was little room for risk and even less space to breathe.

Alianza Atletico entered the match with momentum in their sails, buoyed by a resounding 4-2 triumph at Deportivo Garcilaso just a week prior—a result that followed twin disappointments, including a dispiriting home defeat to Universitario and a blunt 1-0 loss at ADT. The week’s results had dropped the Piura-based side to 13th in the league, with only 13 points from 11 matches—a tally that underscored the fine margins separating mid-table optimism from bottom-half anxiety.

Santa Rosa, for their part, arrived in Sullana in search of consistency they had struggled to grasp. Their league position—12th, two points above Alianza Atletico, but with an extra game in hand—was testament to a run defined less by draws and more by sharp oscillations between victory and defeat. Their five most recent league outings mirrored the volatility of the campaign: wins over Cusco and Sport Huancayo punctuated by heavy losses, most notably a 1-6 collapse at Melgar and a 0-2 setback at UTC.

So it was little surprise that both managers—fully aware of the fickle nature of this league—opted for pragmatism over audacity. The opening exchanges saw the hosts probing patiently, with midfielder Miguel Agustín Graneros, fresh off a brace last week, pulling the strings but finding Santa Rosa’s compact shape hard to breach. Cultural Santa Rosa, meanwhile, threatened in transition; Isaac Camargo and José Miguel Manzaneda, both recent scorers, flashed early warnings but fell short of forcing a genuine save from Alianza keeper Diego Penny.

The first half, tight and tactical, produced more fouls than chances. Both sides carved out half-openings, only for the decisive touch to elude them. Alianza’s Stefano Fernández stung the palms of Santa Rosa’s goalkeeper midway through the period, while Santa Rosa’s Franco Torres—desperate to add to his tally after netting in the heavy loss at Melgar—slipped through the back line but fired over.

The turning point arrived after the hour mark, as fatigue crept in and spaces began to appear. The match’s only goal was a product of persistence: Alianza recycled a failed corner back into the penalty area, where a scramble saw the ball fall to Villegas. With defenders converging, the midfielder steered a crisp finish through a thicket of legs and past the outstretched hands of the goalkeeper. The stadium erupted—a release of weeks’ worth of frustration and pent-up hope.

Santa Rosa poured forward in search of a leveler, but the hosts, suddenly galvanized, closed ranks. There were nervy moments in the closing minutes—an optimistic penalty claim waved away, a glancing header just wide—but the visitors, for all their ambition, could not unlock an increasingly resolute back line.

The significance of the result is not lost on either side. Alianza Atletico’s win propels them to 16 points, leapfrogging Santa Rosa into 12th place on goal difference, and providing a much-needed cushion as the table’s lower reaches tighten. For Santa Rosa, another defeat deepens the sense of uncertainty, as their streak of inconsistent results continues to undermine progress and leaves the door ajar for the chasing pack below.

In the context of their recent head-to-heads, this contest marked a change of fortune for Alianza Atletico, who had often played second fiddle to Santa Rosa in recent campaigns. The Sullana club’s supporters, long starved of fortitude in crucial moments, will view Villegas’s contribution as the kind of season-defining intervention upon which survival—and perhaps even resurgence—can be built.

Looking ahead, Alianza Atletico will seek to capitalize on back-to-back victories, hoping to transform fleeting promise into a sustained climb toward mid-table security. With games fast running out, every point matters. For Cultural Santa Rosa, the challenge is more psychological than structural: to halt the slide before it becomes a descent, and to rediscover the resilience that marked the early months of their campaign.

As October nights grow longer, so too does the tension for teams perched on the Primera División precipice. On Sunday night, at least, Sullana sang—its song a solitary, vital note in the long chorus of a season far from resolved.