It was a night of peace and tranquility at the Monumental. Martín Demichelis, who had been whistled in the last game, was applauded this time. And then River captured a well-deserved cup victory against Freedom which helped him jump to the round of 16 of the Liberators and to be the first Argentine classified to that super Club World Cup next year that awards many millions of dollars as a prize.
If River smiles today to a large extent it is also because of the forcefulness of Miguel Borja. The Colombian does not appear outside the area because Demichelis asked him to. The coach wants him in the hottest rectangle. And he seems to be right. The scorer doesn’t stop celebrating goals
This time Borja celebrated by controlling a cross with class, turning and scoring the first goal. Then, in the second, he hooked inside and from the door of the area, he put it in a corner. The Colombian’s 2024 is fabulous: 16 goals in 19 games!
Demichelis put together a logical team, with the Rodrigos (Villagra and Aliendro) balancing the midfield, with the experienced Nacho Fernández to think, with the precocious talent of Diablito Echeverri to dribble and up top with Facundo Colidio and Miguel Borja to hurt. And that construction worked. River deserved to take the lead long before achieving it.
Ezequiel Barco disputes a ball with Hernesto Caballero
Libertad, played, knowing that he needed to overcome the result to continue dreaming of moving to the second round, looked for more in the second half. But his intention, as the minutes passed, faded. And River once again controlled everything. Until Borja sealed the result with the second.
It’s true that sometimes his game sounds unstable. It is true that it does not seem reliable. But River in the emaciated Argentine soccer continues to make differences. And on the continental field, although it remains to be seen how far he is able to go, for now he does what he deserves in Group H of the Libertadores, secures first place and jumps to the round of 16. At the same time he gets a ticket to the 2025 Club Super World Cup. The whistles for Demichelis on Saturday sounded exaggerated, he said. And last night the millionaire fans corrected themselves with applause. And it was good.
DATA SHEET
2 – River Plate: Franco Armani Agustín Sant’Anna, Leandro González Pirez, Paulo Díaz, Milton Casco; Rodrigo Villagra (m.85, Matías Kranevitter), Rodrigo Aliendro (m.80, Nicolás Fonseca), Ignacio Fernández (m.69, Pablo Solari), Claudio Echeverri (m.69, Esequiel Barco), Facundo Colidio (m.80 , Franco Mastantuono); and Miguel Borja
0 – Freedom: Rodrigo Morinigo; Iván Ramírez, Luis Cardozo, Diego Viera, Néstor Giménez; Hernesto Caballero (m.80, Álvaro Campuzano), Lucas Sanabria, Bautista Merlini (m.80, Gustavo Aguilar), Iván Franco (m.70, Antonio Bareiro); Matías Espinoza (m.58, Lorenzo Melgarejo) and Roque Santa Cruz (m.70, Óscar Cardozo)
Goals: 1-0, Miguel Borja (m. 41); 2-0, Miguel Borja (m. 84)
Referee: Chilean Piero Maza admonished Paulo Díaz, Hernesto Caballero and Antonio Bareiro
Incidents: Match valid for the fifth day of Group H of the Copa Libertadores, played at the Antonio Vespucio Liberti Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires
