Manuel Lanzini chose the Superclásico against Boca to score his first goal since returning to River. That goal from the best player in the match was enough for River to take a victory that it deserved for its football and personality. It was superior in the first half and knew how to navigate through the storm when the match heated up in the second half. Both teams are far from their best form, but River was able to overcome a Boca that put its best pieces on the field, but that has been short of football for too long now, but that came close to equalising with a goal disallowed by Giménez in the last minute of added time.
Argentine Ricardo Piglia said, and Guatemalan Eduardo Halfon later recalled, that “a story always tells two stories. A visible story hides a secret story.” And that is what a match like this Superclásico is like. What you see at first glance is Argentina’s most intense match and one of the most attractive in world football. If you scratch under your skin you see two teams that are navigating in the middle of the table, with more doubts than certainties, far from their best moment and in the case of River, with their hearts in La Bombonera and their heads on the return match of the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores next Tuesday against Colo Colo.
Marcelo Gallardo, not given to varying his line-up much from one match to the next, made a U-turn this time and introduced seven changes from the team that faced Colo Colo in the Libertadores, with a change of formation included. The bet on this massive rotation, with a defence with three centre-backs (Gattoni, González Pírez and Paulo Díaz), allowed him to present a team with fresh legs, a clear mind and nothing to save for the next match. Barely 19 minutes had passed when a defensive blunder by Boca was taken advantage of by Lanzini to beat Romero, who saved Colidio’s first shot, but he could not prevent the goal from River’s number 10.
With River in control of the match, mentally stronger, better positioned on the pitch, more lucid and with Lanzini showing all his hierarchy and uncontrollable for his rivals, Diego Martínez, who presented his best eleven, made some adjustments. He tried to cover holes in the center of the field, without much success, but he forgot to lean the field towards Zenón’s band, which worried River so much in the first quarter of an hour on the left side. Gallardo’s team only needed to retreat in an orderly manner to nullify Boca’s offensive. River gave them the ball, which was nothing more than a maneuver to attack them on the counterattack. Each response from River to the counterattack was a suffering for the Xeneize.
With the Millionaires in control of the match, the first half was consumed by Boca only waking up a bit at the end and that was only a foreshadowing of what was to come later. Boca improved, but not enough, with the entry of Zeballos for Miramón at half-time and the displacement of Zenón, who became more focused and in contact with the ball. Gallardo also took advantage of the time in the changing rooms to have Pezzella replace Gattoni, who played the first half with the burden of having been cautioned after seven seconds of play.
Boca continued to get tangled up with the ball at their feet and River did not change their plan, trying to find a way to end a match that had become more intense on the counterattack. Zeballos’ presence grew and Boca looked forward to the equaliser when a shot from Advíncula hit the top of Armani’s crossbar, who saved a one-on-one in added time. River barely appeared in the rival area and only decided to get close to Romero when Mastantuono came onto the field. They dedicated all their energy to managing the advantage they had gained in the first half and which they were close to losing in the last minute of added time, when the referee disallowed a goal for a handball by Giménez.
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Changes
German Pezzella (45′, Federico Gattoni), Exequiel Zeballos (45′, Ignacio Miramon), Nacho Fernandez (56′, Santiago Simon), Miguel Borja (56′, Adam Bareiro), Milton Gimenez (64′, Edinson Cavani), Marcos Acuna (70′, Manuel Lanzini), Aaron Anselmino (72′, Marcos Rojo), Frank Mastantuono (76′, Facundo Colidio), Milton Delgado (84′, Guillermo Fernandez), Juan Barinaga (84′, Luis Advincula)
Cards
Referee: Nicolas Ramirez
VAR referee: Hector Paletta, Mariana De Almeida
Federico Gattoni (0′,Yellow), Miguel Merentiel (40′,Yellow), Santiago Simon (43′,Yellow), Facundo Colidio (48′,Yellow), Nicolas Fonseca (49′,Yellow), Marcos Rojo (50′,Yellow), Fabricio Bustos (78′,Yellow), Gonzalez Pirez (80′,Yellow), Christian Lema (88′,Yellow), Christian Lema (101′,Roja)
