River Plate beat Lanús 2-0 as a visitor tonight, in a hot match altered by the performance of referee Darío Herrera and the VAR, in a meeting corresponding to the 6th. Date of the Professional League.
In the hot day at the Néstor Díaz Pérez stadium the goals were scored by José Paradela and Lucas Beltrán for the ‘millionaire’ team, but the leading role was taken by Herrera and the VAR, whose decisions altered the team and the local fans.
YOU AGAIN, JOSÉ! Paradela marks in La Fortaleza the 1-0 of River vs. Lanus in the #Professional League.
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Herrera annulled a goal from the ‘garnet’ center-back Cristian Lemadue to a question of interpretation, and at the end of the game, he did not validate another goal for the locals due to an offside by Franco Troyansky, when Franco Orozco had sent it into the back of the net.
The referee had to wait several minutes to leave the field of play, because projectiles rained down, as well as insults of all kinds.
For the beginning of the match, coach Frank Kudelka stopped his men with two lines of four, plus Pedro De la Vega floating behind the center forward, Leandro Díaz. In addition, Lautaro Acosta was always close to the area, and the arrivals of Matías Esquivel and Brian Aguirre joined him.
The visiting coach, Martín Demichelis, set up a game with the best defensive line of four available and with the Uruguayan Nicolás De la Cruz helping Enzo Pérez in the fight for control of the midfield. In relation to the poor performance against Arsenal, this time Núñez’s men improved their intensity to press and recover the ball.
But the ‘Garnet’ did not want to be less and also put intensity from the efforts of Raúl Loaiza and Tomás Belmonte. In addition, the rises of “Café” Aguirre generated concern in the visiting coaching staff.
After 20 minutes, the match acquired more tension when Lanús was about to score, but Franco Armani denied it to De la Vega. And a few minutes later, River put together a great collective play where the ball went from one side to the other, passing through the feet of Barco, Ignacio Fernández and Robert Rojas until Casco dumped it into the middle of the area, where Paradela defined by scoring the first goal for his team.
From the goal, River needed ‘Nacho’ Fernández to take the reins to play intelligently, although sometimes the ball passed too much through Paradela’s feet, who guaranteed effort and drive but less clarity. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Rondón seemed very disconnected from his teammates.
GREAT GOAL TO START LIQUIDATION! Beltrán received in La Fortaleza and took a great shot for the 2-0 vs. Lanus in the #Professional League.
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The two teams shared control of the ball in the first stage, but the visitors prevented their fence from being breached.
In the second half, both teams started with an offensive attitude and looking for the rival goal. River underwent changes due to an injury to Casco, then Enzo Díaz moved to his natural position as a winger and Paulo Díaz made his debut in Demichelis management.
De la Vega continued to show that he was the smartest in the club and the most aggressive, messing up River’s defense. And thanks to him, Lanús tilted the field until a move came that divided the waters at minute 14, when Lema headed in a cross.
Laucha Acosta, vs. Enzo Pérez and Rondón in La Fortaleza.
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The referee Herrera and his collaborators took more than seven minutes to check a supposed offside in the goal, and that irritated the local fans and the Lanús bank. Finally, the maneuver was annulled due to Loaiza’s prohibited position, which supposedly obstructed Armani’s view.
But the play “broke” the game, since after a few minutes Kudelka was expelledLanús coach, for his complaints, but also players from both teams saw the yellow card in subsequent plays, since the spirits were altered.
It was difficult for River to keep the ball away from its goalkeeper and Lanús put chaotic pressure in motion, but put his rival in his half of the field. For that reason, Demichelis sent Agustín Palavecino, Santiago Simón and Rodrigo Aliendro to the field to have air and recovery in midfield.
Beltrán also entered, once again demonstrating his effectiveness at River Plate. And the former Colón confirmed it in the 42nd minute, when he received a cross from Enzo Díaz and sent it to the back of the net with a right-footed shot to seal the victory of the “Millionaires”.
The ‘garnet’ players were out of focus, but a play that Orozco converted into a goal came in the 53rd minute. The refereeing quartet took time again to analyze the situation, which generated a tumult caused by a cross between “Laucha” Acosta and Enzo Pérez, who were on the substitute benches. Finally, the action was annulled by Troyansky’s offside.
Then, the local fans began to throw projectiles onto the playing field, but Herrera decided that the game was over and did not suspend it.
DOES NOT ADD: Lema scored the 1-1 of Lanús vs. river in the #Professional Leaguebut the VAR reported an obstruction (offside) by José Canale.
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River took the three points, but Lanús highlighted the weaknesses of the ‘millionaire’ team when it came to defending and recovering the ball.
THE MAGNIFYING GLASS ON ENZO DÍAZ: this was the attack on the River player in La Fortaleza. pic.twitter.com/YMXhEbbjIs
– SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) March 5, 2023
Demichelis: “I know that the fans expect a more dominant football”
Martín Demichelis, River Plate’s coach, maintained that his team beat “a great team that put us in trouble” after the victory against Lanús and acknowledged that the millionaire fan “expects much more dominant football.”
In dialogue with the press at the end of the match where there was a 2-0 victory, Demichelis explained that, when putting together the starting team for today, he took into account the criticism “for the mess in the midfield and I tried to put together a much more ordered in front of Lanús”.
“We had to break the rival’s game mechanism,” he said.
“We won a very important game with a great physical effort, for that I congratulate my players. I know that you have to go for much more, seek to be much more dominant from possession ”, he added.
Regarding the controversies in the disallowed goals against Lanús, the Cordovan coach said that “from the position I had, the goal was very far away and there was no certainty. In addition, they will never listen to my opinion on an arbitration decision ”. The River coach acknowledged that he sought to “cool down more than one discussion that took place.”
Regarding the criticism received after the defeat against Arsenal, Demichelis said that he accepted it because “this is a country where we are all passionate and football coaches. I accept criticism, plus I have to know how to listen and correct”.
“I really enjoy where I am, I spend hours and hours at River Camp, looking for the best way for each training session and each game. It was difficult for us to lose (with Arsenal) and we had to accommodate ourselves. A blow here would have been very hard”, added the former player and coach of Bayern Munich.
