More than 80,000 millionaires exploited the Monumental, vibrated and enjoyed. This new River Marcelo Gallardo gave them a victory of pure force, far from shining, which is worth sealing the pass to the quarterfinals of the competition that obsesses, the Libertadores Cup.
“We worked in a hurry. This series was very difficult,” Gallardo said after the 2-1 that confirmed the 1-0 achieved in the first leg. And it is true. El Muñeco had almost no time to work. He took charge and found himself in this one-on-one duel against Talleres, a rival that lost important players but that always competes. And River won with justice. They did not have much to spare, but they deserved it.
Gallardo’s team made the most of the moments. In the first leg, they took advantage of the final half hour in which Talleres played with one less player due to an unnecessary expulsion and won it with a set piece play. In the return leg, last night, just after the half hour mark, when almost nothing interesting had happened, they began to round off their qualification by taking advantage of an error by the Cordobans at the start that led to the finish of their top scorer, Miguel Borja, after a delicious backheel by Rodrigo Aliendro.
Enzo Díaz (River) fights for the ball with Rubén Botta (Talleres)
Then, at the start of the second half, in a key moment, with pure opportunism and surprise, Santiago Simón emerged to anticipate and finish off a good ball that was given to him by one of the reinforcements, Maximiliano Meza. With three goals difference in the overall result, the story was sealed. Federico Girotti’s discount was a mere anecdote.
Gallardo put together a starting eleven with only one real striker: Borja. Behind him he placed Franco Mastantuono and Maxi Meza, all supported by three other midfielders: Simón, Matías Kravenitter and Aliendro. Behind him were two other signings: Fabricio Bustos and Germán Pezzella. The former Sevilla player Marcos Acuña, of course, did not even go to the bench: he signed his arrival just a few hours ago. In addition, he needs rhythm.
James Rodriguez, the great unknown
River needed to win to qualify and gain training time so that Gallardo can find the identity and team he wants. Now he will have a month until the quarter-finals against Colo Colo of Chile. Will there be room for the arrival of a resounding reinforcement? Will it be James Rodríguez? Should we believe the too brief “no” from Muñeco? It seems that it will be. Maybe we will soon find out.
TECHNICAL SHEET
2 – River Plate: Franco Armani; Fabricio Bustos, German Pezzella, Paulo Diaz, Enzo Diaz; Santiago Simon (d.63, Claudio Echeverri), Matias Kranevitter (d.75, Ignacio Fernandez), Rodrigo Aliendro (d.46, Rodrigo Villagra), Maximiliano Meza, Franco Mastantuono (d.63, Facundo Colidio); Miguel Borja
1 – Workshops in Cordoba: Juan Portillo (m.75, Marcos Portillo), Franco Moyano (m.51, Matias Esquivel), Matias Galarza (m.67, Diego Ortegoza), Sebastian Palacios (m.68, Ruben Botta), Cristian Tarragona, Bruno Barticciotto (m.52, Federico Girotti).
Goals: 1-0, Miguel Borja (m. 34); 2-0, Santiago Simón (m. 50); 2-1, Federico Girotti (m. 69)
Referee:The Uruguayan Gustavo Tejera cautioned Miguel Borja, Gaston Benavidez and Matias Galarza.
Incidents: Second leg of the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores played at the Antonio Vespucio Liberti ‘Monumental’ Stadium, in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Núñez.
