Diamante shines as La Salle XI beats rival Ateneo

MANILA, Philippines -- Gelo Diamante made a triumphant from injury, coming through with a gem of a goal to power La Salle to a pulsating 1-0 win over Ateneo and into the UAAP Season 77 men’s football final before a good Sunday crowd at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Seeing action for the first time since suffering a broken clavicle last January, Diamante made impact at once and fired the marginal strike from outside the box at the 88thminute that was enough to send the Green Booters to their first championship stint since Season 68.

La Salle, the top seed at the end of the elims, will face off with the winner of last night’s other Last-4 duel pitting No. 2 defending champion Far Eastern U and third seed University of the Philippines, in a KO for the crown on Sunday.

“I took a chance on him and he did really well,” DLSU coach Hans Smit said of Diamante.

“In a game like this, you need all your weapons regardless kung pilay (of injury) or whatever. We want to make it to the finals and so we had to go through the semis (against Ateneo). So I told him to be ready,” he added.

For a good majority of the game, the rivals couldn’t find the mark.

Then Smit tapped Diamante to replace his brother Gio at the 75th and though still not 100 percent, his presence changed the game. With two minutes before whistle, Diamante found enough room to operate and send the ball home to delight of the gallery in green.