River Plate showed his best face and with an exceptional Esequiel Boatwho scored a double, prevailed 4-2 against the Peruvian Sporting Cristal at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, on the second day of Group D of the Libertadores Cup.
Barco’s two goals, one from the Uruguayan Nicolás De la Cruz and the rest from Pablo Solari gave the Argentine team a clear victory against a Peruvian rival who scored through the Brazilian Ignacio and the Ecuadorian Washington Corozo.
With this result, River recovered from the initial loss against The Strongest in La Paz and was in third place behind the Bolivian team -with the same 3 points and one goal difference- and the Fluminense leader who totaled six points leaving last place for Sporting Cristal that closes the classification without units.
The match began evenly but in the 7th minute the visitors struck with an accurate header after a free kick from the Brazilian Ignacio to put the Celeste Machine ahead.
River reacted after this initial blow and at the hands of ‘Nacho’ Fernández cornered the Peruvian visit and after Fernández’s own shot from outside in the 14th minute, they tied it in the 18th minute with a great header from the Uruguayan Nicolás De la Cruz after a perfect cross from Enzo Díaz.
Leandro González (River Plate) disputes an aerial ball
With this boost of spirits, River had two more options before the difference in the score in their favor in the 35th minute with a great play by Esequiel Barco who swayed and took a low shot that overcame the resistance of Renato Solís.
From that moment on it seemed that River, the absolute leader of the Argentine tournament, was going to impose his law but three minutes later Enzo Díaz saw the red card after a hard challenge against Washington Corozo who went hand in hand with goalkeeper Franco Armani. From that same play, Corozo executed the free kick with a shot that placed the ball in the upper left corner of the millionaire goal.
In the second half, River quickly managed to take the lead again on the scoreboard at minute 52 with a double action by Esequiel Barco who was favored with the rebound on the second attempt in an action that was validated by the VAR. Barely nine minutes later, Enzo Pérez released a perfect pass for Pablo Solari, who defined with an exquisite chip to establish the final 4-2 result.
River’s next presentation in this Group D of the Copa Libertadores will be on Tuesday, May 2 against Fluminense as a visitor, while Sporting Cristal will be home to The Strongest in Lima.
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