Photo: AFP
River abruptly left without the dream of the Copa Libertadores when falling this Tuesday night by 9 to 8 in definition by penalty kicks against Internacional, in the Beira Río de Porto Alegre, after succumbing 2-1 against the Brazilian teamwhom he had defeated by the same score in the first leg.
In this way and after consecrating comfortably champion in the Professional League, River, who was planning to inject reinforcements to his already rich squad under the command of Martín Demichelis, in succession phase of Marcelo Gallardo, left prematurely with nothing (Two weeks ago he was eliminated by Talleres, from Córdoba in the 16th round of the Argentine Cup) and only with the League Cup ahead in the first month of the second half of the year.
The game did not offer “a priori” any alternatives other than the original intention of Eduardo Coudet’s men to seek victory at any cost after losing 2-1 in the Más Monumental last week, while River had to polish that Lean advantage with two options: possession of the ball or defending to counteract as often as possible.
Photo: AFP
And against all odds, Martín Demichelis backed down from his statements last Tuesday when he asked a journalist who had questioned him about the reasons why he did not replace Ignacio Fernández, at a low level, with Pablo Solari, the author of the two goals when he entered the complement of the first leg.
“Do you tell Nacho to come out? Because he is the brain of the team,” he shot without a network or survival instinct, since that phrase could clearly be interpreted as a lack of authority on his part.
However, this Tuesday, as if to confirm the statements of a psychologist consulted by Télam in this regard, who maintained that his response to the chronicler was due to the fact that “he himself is not sure of that decision and if what he is doing is right.” He ended up agreeing with the press man and Solari started, relegating “Nacho” to the substitute bench.
Of course, this lasted less than 40 minutes, because Enzo Pérez, the other candidate to leave, as happened in the first leg, thereby generating a change in the scheme, withdrew early with a blow to the waist.
Photo: Twitter @RiverPlate
That left the “ideal” set up for Demichelis open for the complement, without controversies or possible claims from outside, because “everyone who should be there” was on the court.
Of course, this could be seen from the middle forward, because backwards the defections remained the same as always, and They worsened when the wayward Ecuadorian Enner Valencia (during the week he had a fight with Inter’s sports director, Magrao) found his perfect place on the pitch on the right sector of the River Plate defense and began to wreak havoc against a defenseless Milton Casco.
And from this it was that risky actions began to be generated in the vicinity of the arch defended by Franco Armani, provoking stopped ball actions with which River began to suffer greatly.
And so it was After 25 minutes, the “millionaire” nailed the “sliver of his own stick” after a corner kick that former River Plate native Gabriel Mercado, now a central marker, turned into the opening of the scoring with a header from the center of the small area .
This intoned the almost 50,000 Inter fans (there were about 2,500 from River) and with it consequently its footballers, who thought of passing within the regular 90 minutes rather than reaching the instance of penalty kicks.
Y At minute 33 it seemed that this objective was going to be achieved through another set piece, in this case a free kick taken by Alan Patrick from left to right that grazed Enzo Díaz, the last member of the barrier, and made the game sterile. Armani flight.
Photo: Twitter @RiverPlate
Previously, Demichelis had brought in the Paraguayan Robert Rojas, whom he convinced during the week to continue at the club and not go to Vélez or Tigre, to try to contain Valencia better than Casco was doing. Seemed like a late change.
But since football has unforeseen realities, Rojas was key not to his specific mission, but to tie the match after 45 minutes of the add-on after another stopped ball, in this case a corner taken by Solari that “Nacho” Fernández and the Paraguayan combed. He connected falling but free of marks at the far post.
Of course, later the defender from Concepción was going to mutate from hero to villain when he missed the last shot in an “endless” series of penalties that Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet would later transform into a 9-8 victory for the Brazilians by defeating with his shot from 11 meters to his colleague Armani.
And then all the disappointment moved to Núñez’s team, which in 15 days was in 16th place. in the final of the Argentine Cup and now in the round of 16 of Libertadores, so that in the last semester of this year the current national champion will only have the League Cup as competition.
While this Inter de Coudet, who today won a game for the first time since “Chacho” returned to the club, will meet Bolívar in the quarterfinals, who had beaten Athlético Paranaense 3-1 in the first leg in Bolivia and today they fell 2-0 in Brazil (goals by Fernandinho, a penalty kick and Vitor Roque), but ended up winning 5-4 from 12 steps.
And Argentine soccer was thus left without one of its representatives considered to have the best chances of fighting for the title in this Libertadores, which is becoming very aggressive towards national teams, especially when they come across Brazilians.
2023-08-09 02:57:00
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