The River of the two faces, before a key match in the Libertadores where it needs to show the version of the League

After the victory against Platense, which allowed them to maintain their five-point advantage over San Lorenzo in the League, River thinks about the momentous match on Thursday at 9:00 p.m. in Lima against Sporting Cristal for the Copa Libertadoreswhich will be key to the future of Martín Demichelis’s team in the continental competition.

This game is crucial for River since, due to goal difference, is last in his group. Although it has three points, like The Strongest and Sporting Cristal, the record of goals is -4, while the Bolivian team has it at zero and the Peruvian at -3. So, given this scenario, Núñez’s team needs a good result in Lima.

“Obviously you have to go look for a win in Peru. There is a team with nine and another three with three points. I’m sure we’re going to prepare to look for that. Now we play a triangle and we have to add more than the other two teams”, stated Demichelis.

A win would bring calm and leave him well positioned for the final two games, against Fluminense and The Strongest., whom he will receive at the Monumental. And a tie would keep him expectant and doing the math. In that case, he would need the Bolivians not to beat Fluminense (he would go to Bolivia with an alternative team) at the height of La Paz so that he does not gain a difference in points.

But beyond math, Demichelis and company think only about having a great match at the National Stadium in Lima. “My head is on Thursday,” said the coach at the press conference after the victory over Platense.

For this reason, the team had no rest. He slept in the Monumental concentration on Sunday night and trained at the stadium from Monday morning. The idea of ​​not resting had to do with not losing pace and for the team to be united for a key game, which will be a difficult match against Sporting Cristal that has just won this weekend (3-2 against Cusco) in his league, in which he is third, although with few chances of being crowned as he is eight points behind the leader (Alianza Lima) with nine at stake.

The good news is that DT will be able to count on Nicolás De La Cruz for Thursday. The bad news is that Emanuel Mammana continues to work in a differentiated way due to the synovitis that afflicts him in his left knee.

Regarding the rival, Micho evaluates the following: “I don’t think Sporting will change the way they play. He will try to be the protagonist, as seen with Fluminense and The Strongest. If you let him play, he plays well. We have to play an intelligent game and reduce the amount of inaccuracies that we have today.”

The coach and his assistants are concerned about the inaccuracies that the team has been having in recent games and that with Platense they were exposed since from River’s incorrect passes, Squid got into the game and was encouraged to try to hurt him.

This issue is the one that is being worked on the most these days in training, to improve and enhance the circulation of the ball so that the team does not lose fluidity in the game. “Having a large number of inaccuracies is what fills us with adverse sensations and that increases the confidence of the rival. It happened to us with Talleres and also with Platense”, stated Demichelis. And he added: “There is a lot to work on and to correct.”

What Demichelis will also have to define for Thursday is the scheme to be implemented. In the first leg against Sporting Cristal he played with a double 9 (with Salomón Rondón and Lucas Beltrán) but at halftime he put Rodrigo Aliendro to collaborate with Enzo Pérez in midfield, with a team that had been left with 10 men due to the expulsion by Enzo Diaz. Now, Aliendro is not touched and De La Cruz will enter for Palavecino.

Now, the one who asks for a clue is Miguel Borja, who returned to win Platense. “Today I decided on Borja because I knew that in the first one I was going to score the goal“, joked Micho. And he did not close the door to a possible duo of the Colombian with Beltrán. “On some occasion they have done it. They are different characteristics. Miguel is much more of an area, Lucas is a 9 that can go down to look for, to support. I will see what decision I make for Thursday, but it is clear that the two can play together, “he admitted.

Meanwhile, with Mammana between cottons, the central duo will be made up of Robert Rojas and Paulo Díaz, since Leandro González Pirez is suspended because he was sent off against Fluminense in Brazil. For this reason, Demichelis included the Paraguayan as a starter against Platense to find that he has a game rhythm.

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