The magnifying glass on the areas of the Copa Libertadores: why River Plate got the “group of death” and the opinion of Enzo Francescoli

After the moving tribute to the Argentine national team world champion, at the headquarters of the conmebol the raffle was held for South American and Libertadores Cups. And after the opinion of the balls, the analysis began on which Argentine team was awarded the “group of death” in the maximum continental tournament. Beyond the fact that in a contest of this caliber there are no weak rivals, on social networks (and among the protagonists, in the halls of the convention center) there was a consensus that the Group Dwhich has to River Plate as seeded head, he was the toughest.

The conclusion was very simple: he will have to measure himself against Fluminenseleader of the Rio de Janeiro tournament, for which he stayed with the Taça Guanabara and will play the semifinals of the competition; The Strongest, unbeaten leader in the Bolivian league, with the extra difficulty of the trip to the height, where he will make his debut next week; and Sporting Cristalalso in first place in the Peruvian league, sharing the step with Universitario.

More: Fluminense has highly renowned footballers, such as Marcelo, a former Real Madrid winger, Felipe Melo, Paulo César Ganso or the Argentine Germán Cano, who is an idol in Rio de Janeiro. And Cristal has already proven to be a tough nut to crack by taking out Huracán at the crossroads to enter the group stage (0-0 in Parque Patricios and 1-0 in the 97th minute in Lima).

Enzo Francescolisports director of the institution (he traveled with the president Jorge Britothe vices Matías Patanian and Ignacio Villarroel and the coach Martin Demichelis) made no excuses for what fortune determined. “In the Libertadores obviously there are always things that can be better, you have to go up to the task, which above all is a matter of the trip; then the group is normal. There are three strong teams each in their country. For me there was no group of death. Possibly when he started A with Flamengo and Racing, it seemed. But everything is quite even”, said the Uruguayan.

“In soccer you have to try to level things, it is notorious that Brazilian soccer has a certain advantage, but you have to become strong at home. The team is going from better to bigger, it’s normal, with the change of coaching staff, now we’re fine”, remarked the former striker.

How did the rest of the Argentines do? Boca Juniors, a priori, seems to have a group, the F, which appears accessible. It will be presented next week Monagas In Venezuela. It will also intersect with Colo Colo from Chile y Deportivo Pereira from Colombia. Racing he ran into the champion Flamengo in Zone A, and will face Ñublense from Chile (debut) and Aucas from Ecuador, which offers the extra difficulty of 2,850 meters above sea level.

Argentine Juniors fell in Group E, with Independiente del Valle (champion of the South American Cup and the Recopa), Cotinthians and Liverpool from Uruguay. And Patronato, which qualified as the winner of the Argentine Cup, is in Group H, with Olimpia from Paraguay, Atlético Nacional from Colombia and Melgar from Peru.

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