With the tranquility of having become champion a few days ago, River traveled to Rosario to meet Central for date 23 of the Professional League and ended up drawing 2 to 2 in a match that had everything. Marco Ruben had put Scoundrel ahead twice but in the second half the Millionaire woke up and tied it through Palavecino to stretch his undefeated to 17 games.
The first 20 minutes of the game were very tight and even. Both River and Central focused 100% on exerting pressure on their rival’s exit and left little margin for the game in the middle of the field, to the point that there was no shot on goal. El Canalla complicated a lot with long balls behind Robert Rojas’s back while El Millonario drowned goalkeeper Romero several times at the start but never enough to steal the ball. He was only able to attack with depth at 18 minutes, when Palavecino and Álvarez combined but ended up in a bad center from Simón.
At 23 ‘the first clear came for River: Romero took advantage of a bad start from the bottom, defined and the ball deflected into a defender before going to the corner. But when it seemed that the Millionaire began to regain prominence to impose his game, Central made a goal and took the lead. Vecchio overflowed Simón with a pipe, threw the center and Marco Ruben connected with a cue in Armani’s nose.
From there, the game was uphill for the Greatest, he could never associate in 3/4 of the court as he usually does, he was overcome in many attacks by the rival (Armani saved what was Vecchio’s goal in the last minute) and Juan Pablo Romero’s goal stayed further and further away, so for the complement Carrascal entered with the aim of giving him more freshness in midfield.
Gallardo’s team came out with another scheme (Álvarez leading the way with Carrascal and Simón behind) and also another face in the second half. At the start, the Spider had a very clear but the goalkeeper Romero covered his left-foot and to top it off the referee Echavarría omitted a penalty that Damián Martínez made to the forward himself when he was about to kick.
But Rosario Central never let go of the accelerator’s foot, He kept surpassing River in rhythm and intensity and at 13 ‘he scored the second goal, again through Marco Ruben. Paulo Díaz went far to press, allowed them to open the ball for Lautaro Blanco and the side threw the center for the former River forward to connect with his head behind Zuculini’s back.
At 24 ‘River went back into the game with an absolute goal from Agustín Palavecino. Fernández leaked, leaned on Álvarez and Pala gave him as he came with the inside face to score his third goal in the championship. The entry of Girotti allowed the Millionaire to add weight in the area and to detach Álvarez from the strict function of fighting with the centralsThat is why freedoms and spaces began to appear at the door of the area.
And when it comes to spaces, Palavecino is the king in the discipline. After 30 minutes he received with the front field, nobody came out, they let him kick and He took an impressive right hand that got into the angle of the rival goalkeeper to decree the tie for River at a key moment of the game. In a flurry of good news, Central was left with one less at 34 ‘due to the expulsion of Ojeda and the scenario was more than favorable to the Millionaire.
In the last minutes, the local tried to dirty the game and pass the time to achieve the tie. The feeling remained that if it was played a while longer, River would win it, but after a first half for oblivion, The Greatest once again demonstrated that not even in the worst context is he liquidated and he took a valuable draw for the character and the claw he put, with Palavecino as the maximum figure. The champion never stops competing.
RIVER (4-4-2): 1-Franco Armani; 2-Robert Rojas, 17-Paulo Díaz, 6-David Martínez, 20-Milton Casco; 31-Santiago Simón, 5-Bruno Zuculini, 13-Enzo Fernández, 8-Agustín Palavecino; 9-Julián Álvarez and 19-Braian Romero. DT: Marcelo Gallardo.
Alternates: 25-Enrique Bologna, 14-Germán Lux, 16-Alex Vigo, 22-Javier Pinola, 4-Jonatan Maidana, 23-Leonardo Ponzio, 26-José Paradela, 10-Jorge Carrascal, 33-Tomás Galván, 15-Federico Girotti and 27-Agustín Fontana.
CENTRAL ROSARIO (4-4-2): 12-Juan Pablo Romero, 4-Damián Martínez, 32-Facundo Almada, 22-Gastón Avila, 3-Lautaro Blanco; 25-Emmanuel Ojeda, 27-Gino Infantino, 18-Francésco Lo Celso, 10-Emiliano Vecchio; 9-Marco Ruben, 7-Alan Marinelli. DT: Cristian González.
Alternates: 1-Josué Ayala, 2-Nicolás Ferreyra, 48-Ricardo Garay, 35-Ulises Ciciolli, 16-Mateo Tanlongo, 8-Diego Zabala, 11-Luciano Ferreyra, 7-Alan Marinelli, 29-Luca Martínez Dupuy and 30-Michael Covea.
MATCH DATA
Hour: 17.00
Stadium: Giant of Arroyito
Referee: Pablo Echavarría
Assistants: José Castelli y Sebastián Rainieri
Fourth official: Fabricio Llobet
TV: TNT Sports
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