River Plate suffered an unexpected 4-0 loss against Independiente Rivadavia in a friendly called “challenge of champions” that was played at the Malvinas Argentinas Stadium in Mendoza.
At 21 minutes into the first half, it was Fabrizio Sartori Prieto who surprised after a great pass from Juan Manuel Vázquez. He went one-on-one against Ezequiel Centurión and defined with quality between the legs of the rival goalkeeper. And at the end of the first stage, the bottom was badly stopped, Sartori reached the bottom and threw a low cross for Vázquez to push it for the second.
In the second half, with the clock already showing 67 minutes, a real great goal came from Diego Tonetto, who took a left-footed shot from a distance to avoid the reaction of Centurión, who swung his hand and did not manage to slap her. A little more than ten minutes later another blow came for the Millonario: in this case, with the defense thrown into the attack, the one who appeared to push it was Federico Moreno, who had entered minutes before for Vázquez.
Demichelis took advantage of this game to give several players a break, to the point that in the second half Agustín Ruberto, Daniel Zabala, Esequiel Barco, Rodrigo Villagra, Ian Subiabre, Tobías Leiva, Ignacio Fernández and Rodrigo Aliendro jumped off the bench.
El Millonario had planned to play a friendly against Lepra de Mendoza in November 2023, but at that time the preparatory duel had to be suspended in the lead-up due to the Zonda wind that was hitting the region.
It must be taken into account that the Millonario’s great objective is to get a quick ticket to the final stages of the League Cup, where it dominates Zone A with 21 points, above Vélez and Argentinos Juniors, who have the same points. units but worse goal difference. Talleres de Córdoba (19) would also be classifying in that group, although Barracas Central (19), Independiente (18) and Instituto de Córdoba (17) are also in the fight.
The last three dates of the Núñez cast will be against Huracán in Parque Patricios (Friday, March 29 from 8:30 p.m.), Rosario Central at the Mas Monumental Stadium (Sunday, April 7 at 9 p.m.) and La Gloria in Córdoba.
Quickly closing its objective in the national tournament is also linked to the start of the Copa Libertadores: River integrates Group H with Libertad from Paraguay, Deportivo Táchira from Venezuela and Nacional from Uruguay. The premiere will be on Tuesday, April 2 in Venezuela and then the second date against the Charrúas at the Monumental will be played on Thursday, the 11th of that month.
Lepra de Mendoza is also in that same group, but its objective is mainly to sustain the category. Today they are second to last with 7 points, but they are bottom in the Averages table that will decree a relegation to the Primera B Nacional and they are 26th of the 28 teams in the Annual Table.
TRAINING
River Plate: Ezequiel Centurión; Agustín Sant’Anna, Sebastián Boselli, David Martínez, Milton Casco; Santiago Simón, Matías Kranevitter, Agustín Palavecino, Manuel Lanzini, Franco Mastantuono and Facundo Colidio. DT: Martín Demichelis.
Substitutes: Lucas Lavagnino, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Daniel Zabala, Marcelo Herrera, Enzo Diaz, Rodrigo Villagra, Rodrigo Aliendro, Ignacio Fernandez, Tobias Leiva, Ezequiel Barco, Ian Subiabre, Miguel Borja and Augustin Ruberto.
Independent Rivadavia: Mariano Monllor; Rufinus Lucero, Alvaro Dionysius, Thomas Palaces, Emmanuel Mas; John Manuel Vazquez, Francisco Maidana, Joaquin Arzura, Diego Tonetto; Fabrizio Sartori and Emiliano Saliadarre. DT: Martin Cicotello.
Substitutes: Mauro Maidana, Juan Ignacio Cavallaro, Mateo Ortale, Tobias Ostchega, Antonio Napolitano, Federico Castro, Francisco Petrasso, Luciano Abecasis, Matthias Ruiz Diaz, Augustin Lastra and Juan Sebastian Zeballos.
Stadium: Malvinas Argentinas (Mendoza)
Referee: Andrés Merlos