River Plate started winning 2-0 before 10 minutes and then stayed, to allow equality for Argentinos Juniors, who beat them in the game at the beginning of the complement, but those from La Paternal stayed with 10 men and in the end he was once again the one from the beginning to win 4-2 in the match that closed the ninth date of Zone 1 of the Professional League Cup.
Of the seven consecutive weeks of double competition between weekdays and weekends, the first was just completed today, but undoubtedly those teams that are facing double competition between the local tournament and the Copas, Libertadores or Sudamericana, will begin to feel the wear and tear, and River is one of them. Argentine Juniors No.
Surely then for those teams that are competing, and prioritizing, the international level, the price to pay at the local level can be very expensive, and something of that seemed to begin to be observed tonight with the “millionaires” in a packed Monumental stadium.
It is that River was the River of Marcelo Gallardo during the first 10 minutes, when he managed to quickly put himself two goals up with goals from the recovered Matías Suárez poking the ball to Federico Lanzillota and Enzo Fernández with another furious mid-distance shot, at five and nine, respectively.
But from then on Núñez’s team suffered a soccer blackout, simultaneously with the gale that was unleashed over the northern area of Greater Buenos Aires.
And little by little Argentinos Juniors, who were badly beaten, began to slowly recover and were able to play closer and closer to the goal defended by Franco Armani.
Until shortly before 40 minutes, Mariano Bíttolo appeared from the left, the former Newell’s Old Boys who was the fifth man from the left in the 3-5-2 set up by Gabriel Milito’s men, to put a cross in the head of the infallible Gabriel Ávalos that allowed the visit to get into the game before the break.
And that was fully ratified at the start of the complement, when swinging the ball from right to left he began to take advantage of that game system offensively occupying the entire width of the field.
It was then that before five minutes had passed he had already equalized with a surprising appearance from the right by Lucas Villalba to capture that superiority that continued to be so effective that it was about to become 3-2.
It is that River was overcome in all instances of the game and Ávalos himself had an unbeatable opportunity to turn the score around as soon as equality was achieved, with a ball that was stung on the edge of the River Plate small area and without a mark, but his ball was deflected with the face by Armani.
And that wasted opportunity was going to pay dearly for the whole of La Paternal, because River felt that he was alive and encouraged by his partiality, he tried to regain control of the game, although that would be achieved more by a fortuitous action (or two) than by the game volume that had been lost for a long time.
It is that about 20 minutes, he first recovered a ball near the visiting area and his attempt to convert ended up hitting the crossbar.
But in a later action the “Spider” hooked inside the rival area and his low shot, destined for the net because Lanzillota had thrown himself towards his left side and the ball went to the right, was “cut off” by the Argentinos captain, Miguel Torrén, with his left arm, which led not only to a consequent penalty that would be converted by Juan Fernando Quintero, but also to the expulsion of the offender.
It is that Torrén already had a yellow card and therefore left his team with 10 men, too much to pay for the remainder of the game against this River that when it smells blood goes for everything.
And it was precisely from going so far that River reached the fourth conquest with the second “riverplatense” goal from right back Andrés Marcelo Herrera, the former San Lorenzo who occupies (and it seems that he will occupy) the place that he will leave for at least four months for the fractured Paraguayan Robert Rojas, after a great assist from the applauded Enzo Fernández.
Thus, River was left with the second step of Zone 1 of the LPF Cup at the end of this ninth day behind the leader Racing, while Argentinos is outside the quartet that is qualifying for the quarterfinals and that complete Defense and Justicia y Unión, from Santa Fe, ranked seventh, behind Newell’s and Banfield.
As footnotes were Quintero’s admission about half an hour into the first half by a Barco who did not come to this game in his best physical shape and had to leave the field of play prematurely, and the clear opportunity wasted by another player, Braian Romero , in the second period, with a free goal although somewhat biased, after a great clearance by the Colombian.
And also Ávalos, the figure of the party highly congratulated by Gallardo himself (perhaps he would be interested in having him in the middle of the year, when Julián Álvarez leaves), scored for River for the fourth time.
Synthesis
River Plate: Franco Armani; Marcelo Herrera, Paulo Díaz, Héctor David Martínez and Elías Gómez; Enzo Fernández, Bruno Zuculini, Agustín Palavecino and Esequiel Barco; Matias Suarez and Julian Alvarez. DT: Marcelo Gallardo.
Argentine Juniors: Federico Lanzillota; Kevin MacAllister, Miguel Torren and Lucas Villalba; Javier Cabrera, Gabriel Florentín, Fausto Vera, Gabriel Carabajal and Mariano Bittolo; Gabriel Avalos and Nicolas Reniero. DT: Gabriel Milito.
Goals in the first half: 5m. Suarez (R), 9m. Fernandez (R and 38m. Avalos (A).
Goals in the second half: 4m. Villalba (A), 22m. Quintero (R), from a penalty kick and 43m. Herrera (R).
Change in the first half: 29m. Juan Fernando Quintero for Barco (R).
Changes in the second half: At the start Braian Romero for Suárez (R) and Nicolás De la Cruz for Palavecino (R), 23m. Matías Galarza for Florentin (A) and Pablo Minissale for Reniero ; 27m. David Salazar for Bittolo (A) and Mateo Coronel for Carabajal (A); 37m. Gaston Veron for Avalos , Milton Casco by Elías Gómez (R) and 45m. Tomas Pochettino for Fernandez (R).
Admonished: Florentín, Villalba and Galarza (A).
Incidence: 19m. Torrén (A) sent off in the second half.
Court: River Plate.
Referee: Yael Falcon Perez.
