The ‘Millionaire’ lost a friendly duel against Unión La Calera in the final round that ended goalless
Kranevitter’s injury after 8 minutes on his return to the franjirrojos marked the game
River Plate fell this thursday for 4-3 in the definition by penalties against the Chilean La Calera Unionin a friendly match which marked the beginning of Martín Demichelis as coach of the ‘Millionaire’ team. At the ‘La Pedrera’ stadium in Villa Mercedes, San Luis, River equalized without goals against his trans-Andean rival, in a duel marked by the serious injury suffered by Martín Kranevitter on the day that marked his return to the River Plate team. At minute 8, the former Rayados de Monterrey player suffered a hard tackle on his right ankle from behind by César Peréz.
The 29-year-old central midfielder, at the beginning of his second cycle at the ‘Millionaire’, left the field of play in tears and the results of the studies are awaited to determine the severity of the injury. River had confirmed the return of ‘Colo’ on December 12 under the slogan “back home”, to mark the return of the young man who emerged from the lower ranks, who had emigrated in 2015 to Atlético Madrid.
This rough game proposed by the Chilean team caused the visiting club, led by the Argentine coach Gerardo Ameli, to finish with ten for the expulsion in minute 61 of also Argentine Alejo Antilef. In the definition by penalties, the ‘millionaire’ goalkeeper Ezequiel Centurión -he replaced the World Cup champion with ‘Albiceleste’ Franco Armani- stopped the shot from Patricio Flores and Abel Moreno, while José Paradela and Esequiel Barco scored. Meanwhile, Fernando Otárola stopped the shots of Fabián Londoño Bedoya, Franco Alfonso and Lucas Beltrán, to determine the victory of Unión La Calera.
This duel marked the kickoff of the Demichelis era at River, after eight and a half years of Marcelo Gallardo as coach in the club’s most successful cycle. The ‘Millionaire’s’ preseason will continue in the United States where he plans to play three more friendlies: on January 10 against Monterrey in Austin, four days later against the Colombian Millonarios in Miami and on January 17 against Vasco da Gama in Orlando
